How do you make hydrogen carbonate?

Answer 1

One of the common ways would be bubbling a gas containing carbon dioxide through an aqueous solution of a fairly weak base, such as ammonia. Ammonium hydrogen carbonate would be formed in the solution and could be recovered from solution. (If a strong base such as sodium hydroxide were to be used, the product would be a metal carbonate rather than a hydrogen carbonate, unless special reaction conditions, for example, very fast stirring with limited amounts of the strong base added slowly were maintained to prevent the formation of the full carbonate.)

Answer 2

Hydrogen carbonate, also known as bicarbonate, can be made by reacting carbon dioxide with water. This reaction forms carbonic acid, which subsequently dissociates into hydrogen carbonate ions. An alternative method is to mix sodium bicarbonate with an acid, such as vinegar, which will produce carbonic acid and release carbon dioxide gas.