Silica Gel | C.I.C.

Silica Gel: Most widely known Desiccant

Silica Gel provides an economical and effective way of protection against moisture damage during transit or storage. It is one of the most widely used desiccants across the globe due to its proven efficiency to absorb moisture from its surrounding atmosphere.

Chemicals (India) Company or 'CIC' is one of the most well known brands in Silica Gel. With one of the largest manufacturing facilities in India and emphasis over quality product it has created a strong reputation among its customers.

Silica gel is an amorphous form of silicon dioxide, which is synthetically produced in the form of hard irregular granules (having the appearance of crystals) or regular size beads. Water molecules adhere to the gels surface because it exhibits a lower vapour pressure than the surrounding air. When equilibrium of equal pressure is reached, no more adsorption occurs. Thus the higher the humidity of the surrounding air, the greater the amount of water is absorbed.

Some of the important characteristics of Silica Gel are as following:

High absorption power: It will adsorb up to 35% of its own weight in water vapour at 90% RH and 30Â°C.

High Shelf Life: It has an almost indefinite shelf life if stored in airtight conditions.

Inert material: It will not normally attack or corrode other materials.

Static Form: When saturated with water vapour, silica gel still has the appearance of a dry product, its shape and from remains unchanged.

Indicative Nature: It is available in indicative and non- indicative forms. Its indicative form will change its colour on absorbing moisture from air.

Bead & Crystal

Silica Gel is available in two forms mainly, crystals (granular shaped) and beads (round shaped). The beaded variety of Silica Gel is produced from automatic processing plant, thus resulting into superior quality product. The beads are 99% dust free and have higher moisture absorption capacity compared to crystals, and thus are more preferred options in packaging. Whereas due to its unique shape crystals are preferred in transformers and breathers.

Indicative Silica Gel

As the name suggest indicative silica gel changes its colour on moisture absorption. There are two types of indicating silica gel:

Blue Silica Gel: It is a blue colour Silica Gel containing an indicator as 'Cobalt'. It absorbs moisture in exactly the same manner compared to standard white Silica Gel. When free from moisture the crystals/beads are dark blue in colour. As they absorb moisture they turn to light blue gradually, eventually it turns into pink/white in colour, indicating that the material needs to be replaced or regenerated. It is one of the most widely used indicative Silica Gel in transformer, dehumidifiers and breathers.

Orange Silica Gel: It works in the same way as Blue Silica Gel. It is an orange colour Silica Gel in its dry state, which turns to green upon absorption of moisture. The indicator which is used in Orange Silica Gel is 'Methyl Violet'. The orange form of Silica Gel is completely free from Cobalt Chloride and thus now a day is a preferred choice over its blue counterpart.

Technical Data Sheet

Item	Unit	Silica Gel White	Silica Gel Blue	Silica Gel Orange
Absorption Capacity @ 100 % RH	% (By weight)	≥ 35	≥ 35	≥ 35
Bulk Density	Kg/Ltr	0.5 - 0.8	0.5 - 0.8	0.5 - 0.8
Loss on Drying	%	≤ 5.0	≤ 5.0	≥ 98.0
Chloride Content (as NaCl)	% (By weight)	≤ 0.05	≤ 0.4	≤ 0.4
Cobalt Chloride Content	% (By weight)	Nil	≤ 0.05	Nil
Toxicity		Non-toxic	Toxic	Non-toxic

Packaging

Silica Gel is generally used in small sachets, the standard range of CIC Silica Gel Sachets are made from Non-Woven Fabric/Poly Paper/Tvyek Paper.

Standard Sachet Sizes: Ranges from 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 grams.

Silica Gel Most widely known Desiccant

Silica Gel: Most widely known Desiccant

Bead & Crystal

Indicative Silica Gel

Technical Data Sheet

Packaging

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