 It is also manufactured on a vast scale (42 million tonnes in 2005) by the Solvay process.An example of the use of sodium carbonate as an alkali is when washing soda (another name for sodium carbonate) acts on insoluble esters, such as triglycerides, commonly known as fats, to hydrolyze them and make them soluble.Bauxite, a basic hydroxide of aluminium, is the principal ore from which the metal is manufactured.