Barium chlorate in some sodium contamination, which is undesirable for pyrotechnic purposes, where the strong yellow of sodium can easily overpower the green of barium. Sodium-free barium chlorate can be produced directly through electrolysis: It can also be produced by the reaction of barium carbonate with boiling ammonium chlorate solution: The reaction initially produces barium chlorate and ammonium carbonate; boiling the solution decomposes the ammonium carbonate and drives off the resulting ammonia and carbon dioxide, leaving only barium chlorate in solution. When exposed to heat, barium chlorate alone will decompose to barium chloride and oxygen: Barium chlorate is used to produce chloric
Barium is then reduced by carbon to barium sulfide: The water-soluble barium sulfide is the starting point for other compounds: reacting BaS with oxygen produces the sulfate, with nitric acid the nitrate, with carbon dioxide the carbonate, and so on. The nitrate can be thermally decomposed to yield the oxide. Barium metal is produced by reduction with aluminium at . The intermetallic compound BaAl is produced first: BaAl is an intermediate reacted with barium oxide to produce the metal. Note that not all barium is reduced. The remaining barium oxide reacts with the formed aluminium oxide: and the overall reaction is