In many household and industrial items, moisture encourages the growth of mould and also causes rusting. Condensation may damage the components of your electronic goods and speed up the decomposition of chemicals in medicines. Silica Gel is a desiccant that helps preserve these products longer. In this article, we will find out more about silica gel desiccant.
Silica Gel is used in protecting goods against excess moisture, which can promote the growth of mold, spoilage and corrosion. Silicon dioxide is the primary component of silica gel that is treated into a granular or beaded form. As a desiccant, silica gel has a strong affinity for water molecules. Silica gel is available in packets or loose bulk for various purposes.
Silica gel adsorbs moisture, which in effect, locks in moisture and limits the damaging results of humidity.
There are two types of Silica gels that are produced for industrial and other applications. They are indicating and non-indicating silica gels. Let us explore these two categories, the varieties of silica gels available under each category and their respective uses. The three most commonly available colors for silica gel are white, blue indicating and orange indicating.
White Silica Gel is known as Non-Indicating Silica Gel as it remains unchanged in its appearance on adsorbing moisture. White Silica Gel is produced as an ivory-white semi-transparent round vitreous body or crystals with good absorption capacity. But there is no way to determine whether the Silica gel has completely absorbed moisture or not. White Silica Gel causes no odor or pollution and is non-toxic. It is one of the most widely used damp proof agent or desiccant in the world.
Blue Silica Gel is an Indicating Silica Gel as it is prepared by washing White Silica gel with a concentration of Cobalt Chloride, which provides the blue color to the silica gel. Indicating Blue Silica Gel adsorbs moisture in exactly the same way as white non-indicating silica gel.
But, when they are becoming saturated with moisture, they will actually change their color from blue to pink, thus indicating that it has absorbed moisture and needs to be replaced.
Blue Silica Gel tends to be less expensive than Orange Silica Gel while still maintaining the same performance standards. However, the use of Blue Silica Gel has been limited due to its ban in the European Union because of the use of cobalt chloride, a known human toxin, in its production. This is why Blue Silica gel should not be used in direct contact with products intended for consumption, such as food or pharmaceuticals. Despite this fact, Blue Silica Gel is still available for use in the United States.
Orange Silica Gel is a non-toxic, pollution-free desiccant that meets the needs of environmentally conscious companies. The orange silica gel has many applications where visual control of moisture is necessary, such as in compressed air dryers, breathers, for protection of non‐consumable packaged goods, for drying & storing flowers and seeds, and a lot more. Orange Silica Gel should not be used in direct contact with products that are intended for human consumption, such as food and pharmaceuticals.
Orange silica gel has methyl violet which turns the gel green in color when the desiccant becomes saturated by moisture. There is also a newer variety of Orange silica gel which goes colorless when saturated with moisture and is considered better as far as the indication, adsorption capacity & environmental impact are concerned.
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