Desiccator

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The desiccant used in a desiccator normally made of the following desiccant materials. They are Montmorillonite Clay, Silica Gel, Molecular Sieve, Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Oxide. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages when using them as the desiccant.

Montmorillonite Clay

The Montmorillonite Clay is the end product of burning the magnesium aluminium silicate which creates its recycleable adsorbent property. This types of desiccant is very useful at absorbing moisture when using it at very low temperatures but when the temperature increases, it will lose it absorbent property by nature. The working condition for this clay is below 120 degree F, therefore the storage and delivery of this type of clay desiccant must be taken care. It is the cheapest among all other types of desiccants per pound and highly effective when working in normal temperature and humidity ranges.

Silica Gel

Silica gel or known as the silicon dioxide appear in granular or beaded form, having a strong affinity against moisture absorption due to its very small pore size. Its working condition around 220 degree F, but once the the temperature goes up more than 100 degree F, the silica gel will still work but at the lower absorbing rate. This silica gel is commonly found in the food and pharmaceutical industries in the United States and this is the only desiccant types which FDA approved for the usage direct contact with food and pharmacy items.

Molecular Sieve

Molecular Sieve is a type of synthetic desiccant from the porous crystaline aluminosilicates which has very strong absorbing property against moisture molecules. It appears as the molecular sieve structure which has an uniformity crystal lattice structure with many pore size openings. That is why this type of desiccant gets its name. Due to it is a synthetic type of desiccant, it can be produced in various pore sizes such as 3, 4 or 5 angstroms. The molecular sieve desiccant can hold up moisture under 450 degree F temperature.

Calcium Sulfate and Calcium oxide

The Calcium Sulfate and Calcium oxide are made of lime and gypsum respectively. Both are the crystal based with Calcium which are more stable chemically, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Normally they are sold in package form.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Desiccator. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.