Caustic Soda

caustic soda

Caustic Soda Description

Caustic soda is one of the common names for sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Its common name derives from its chemical identity as a sodium hydrate and because it is caustic or corrosive.In pure form, caustic soda is a waxy, white solid. It readily absorbs water and forms aqueous solutions.

Caus­tic soda is the most pop­u­lar al­ka­li in the world. For in­dus­tri­al needs, around 55.5 mil­lion tons of it is man­u­fac­tured. It is clas­si­fied in the group of strong chem­i­cal bases, as it com­plete­ly dis­so­ci­ates (dis­solves) in wa­ter.

Oth­er names of the sub­stance:

• sodi­um hy­drox­ide
• dye
• caus­tic (find out why it’s called this – be­cause of the se­vere burns it caus­es to the skin)
• caus­tic al­ka­li. It’s a white pow­der with large par­ti­cles. It’s very hy­gro­scop­ic, and in the air the pow­der swift­ly melts, as it ac­tive­ly ab­sorbs wa­ter va­por.

Caustic Soda is available in many forms in the industry, and the most common forms are caustic soda flakes and caustic soda pearls. Sodium hydroxide as a strong base, is considered from one of the most important industrial chemicals and strong absorbent of moisture.

caustic soda is used in many industries in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents and as a drain cleaner.

Caustic Soda Uses

It is used for soap making, homemade biodiesel, frosting glass, making several foods, and for chemistry experiments.

Caustic Soda also Used in below industries:

• Production of aluminum
• Production of various types of sodium silicate
• Production of detergent powders and dishwashing liquid
• Production of vegetable oil, leather, and mineral products
• Production of viscose fiber
• Food processing industries
• Production of calcium hypochlorite
• Production of bleach and various types of organic and inorganic derivatives of sodium
• Production of PVC
• Production of degreasing and cleaning agent for greasy surfaces and pipes
• Olive Processing

Caustic Soda Extention

Why is so much caus­tic soda used in in­dus­try all over the world?

1. All house­hold wash­ing agents, sham­poo and soap have a cer­tain amount of caus­tic soda added to them
2. It can be used in the man­u­fac­ture of pa­per, polyester fiber and card­board
3. In alu­minum man­u­fac­ture, caus­tic soda is added for pick­ling met­al
4. Caus­tic soda is reg­is­tered as a food ad­di­tive. It is used to make crunchy crusts
5. Soda so­lu­tions are used at food fac­to­ries as a very pow­er­ful wash­ing agent which breaks down fats. This com­po­nent must be used in peel­ing fruit
6. Sol­vents for un­block­ing pipes are also so­lu­tions of caus­tic soda.
7. Biodiesel fuel (a dis­cov­ery in the field of ecol­o­gy) – caus­tic is need­ed as a cat­a­lyst
8. Sodi­um hy­drox­ide is used for test­ing re­ac­tions at chem­i­cal plants
9. It also has an in­ter­est­ing method of ap­pli­ca­tion in medicine – for burn­ing off skin growths; af­ter ap­pli­ca­tion a scab ap­pears

Caustic Soda Chemical Reaction:

The so­lu­tion has a strong al­ka­line re­ac­tion, turn­ing lit­mus pa­per dark blue (with phe­nolph­thalein the pres­ence of the OH group gives a rasp­ber­ry color, with methyl or­ange it may seem yel­low).

This is a very ac­tive sub­stance, it re­acts with al­most any chem­i­cal com­pound:

• with acids it forms salts and wa­ter;
• with am­pho­ter­ic hy­drox­ides;
• with am­pho­ter­ic ox­ides (this re­ac­tion forms wa­ter and com­plex com­pounds);
• with salts, caus­tic soda can pro­vide the ef­fect of pre­cip­i­ta­tion of met­als, it forms a sed­i­ment in the form of met­al hy­drox­ides (you can see this re­ac­tion with the ex­am­ple of alu­minum);
• with non-met­al and halo­gens;
• with met­als (apart from iron and cop­per, as they have a low elec­tro­chem­i­cal po­ten­tial);
• with ethers and alkyl halides a hy­drol­y­sis re­ac­tion aris­es;
• with poly­atom­ic al­co­hols, reagents may trans­form into alkox­ides;
• with fats it is used for the ir­re­versible re­ac­tion of saponi­fi­ca­tion, as in the process fats turn into soap and glyc­erin.

Caustic Soda Packing:

There are different kind of packing for industrial caustic soda flake, since caustic soda /sodium hydroxide is chemical product better to pack in 25 kgs 2 layer laminate PP bag and don’t allow any water to moisture enter the bag , also for transportation and reducing labor charges we can put bags in 1250 Kg jumbo bag or 1250 Kg pallets are possible.

Food grade caustic soda flake ship in safe metal container which keep away soda from moisture and humid condition , Hydroxide is hydrophilic which means that it not only attracts moisture and water but it actively absorbs any moisture or water to which it is exposed.

 Caustic Soda Specification:

Row	Test name	Unit	Degree Importance	Accepting limit	Test result	Test Method
1	Purity of Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)	%W	Important	98 ± 1 %	99.16	ISIRI- 364 Clause 1 – 7 / IRISI 6135
2	Carbonate as Na2CO3	%W	Important	Max 1	0.43	ISIRI- 364 Clause 2 – 7 / IRISI 6135
3	Chloride as NaCI	%W	Important	Max 0.06	0.0085	ISIRI- 364 Clause 3 – 7 / IRISI 2535
4	Sulfate as Na2SO4	%W	Important	Max 0.01	0.0047	ISIRI- 364 Clause 4 – 7 / IRISI 2539
5	Silicate as SiO2	%W	Important	Max 0.02	0.0019	ISIRI- 364 Clause 5 – 7 / IRISI 2531
6	Fe	Mg/Kg	Important	Max 30	12.5	ISIRI- 364 Clause 6 – 7 / IRISI 2537a
7	Insoluble in Water	%W	Important	Max 0.1	0	ISIRI- 364 Clause 7 – 7 / IRISI 7904
8	Aluminum as Al2O3	Mg/Kg	Important	Max 20	<20	ISIRI- 364 Clause 8 – 7 / IRISI 7903
9	Heavy Metals as Pb	Mg/Kg	Important	Max 20	<20	ISIRI- 364 Clause 9 – 7 / IRISI 7905

August 10, 2022