Chemical properties
Electric salt is the popular name of ammonium chloride, which is colorless cubic crystal or white crystalline powder at room temperature. It tastes salty, cool and slightly bitter, and is acidic when dissolved in water. The pH value is generally around 5.6. Relative density 1.527. Easily soluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol, soluble in liquid ammonia, insoluble in acetone and ether. It begins to volatilize significantly when heated to 100°C. It dissociates into ammonia and hydrogen chloride at 337.8°C. When cooled, it recombines to form ammonium chloride with extremely small particles and appears as thick white smoke. It is not easy to sink and is extremely difficult to dissolve in water. Heated to 350℃ to sublimate, boiling point 520℃. It has low hygroscopicity, but can also absorb moisture and form lumps in humid rainy weather. Powdered electric salts are very easy to absorb moisture, especially wet ammonium, especially phosphorous acid. The hygroscopic point is generally around 76%. When the relative humidity in the air is greater than the hygroscopic point, ammonium chloride will absorb moisture and easily agglomerate. The aqueous solution is slightly acidic and becomes more acidic when heated. It is corrosive to ferrous metals and other metals, especially to copper, and has no corrosive effect on pig iron.
Purpose
Electric salt is mainly used in dry batteries, storage batteries, ammonium salts, tanning, electroplating, medicine, photography, electrodes, adhesives, etc. Ammonium chloride, referred to as “ammonium chloride”, also known as brine sand, is a quick-acting nitrogen chemical fertilizer with a nitrogen content of 24% to 25% and is a physiological acid fertilizer. It is suitable for wheat, rice, corn, rape and other crops, especially for cotton and linen crops, it can enhance fiber toughness and tensile strength and improve quality. However, due to the nature of ammonium chloride and if it is applied incorrectly, it will often bring some adverse effects to the soil and crops.
Production process
The first is to use the Hou’s alkali production method invented by the famous Chinese scientist Hou Debang to produce two products, soda ash and ammonium chloride at the same time;
The second is the by-product of producing potash salts such as potassium carbonate. Ammonium chloride is prone to caking, and anti-caking agents are usually added to prevent the product from caking.
