How long does liquid calcium chloride last? The shelf life of liquid calcium hydroxide depends on storage conditions. Keep calcium chloride in an airtight container in a cool, dry area(1-4C/35-40F). It will become granular if exposed to moisture. Liquid calcium chloride can be preserved for at least several months at room temperature, but it is best stored in the refrigerator between (1-4C/35-40F) allowing for multiple uses from a single container. If refrigerated properly, the shelf life of liquid calcium chloride is almost indefinite.
Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound, a salt with the chemical formula CaCl2. It is a white colored crystalline solid at room temperature, and it is highly soluble in water. It can be created by neutralising hydrochloric acid with calcium hydroxide.
Calcium chloride is commonly encountered as a hydrated solid with generic formula CaCl2(H2O)x, where x = 0, 1, 2, 4, and 6. These compounds are mainly used for de-icing and dust control. Because the anhydrous salt is hydroscopic and deliquescent, it is used as a desiccant.
How Long Does Liquid Calcium Chloride Last? – STORAGE AND SHELF LIFE
Storage of Solid Calcium Chloride Products
Solid calcium chloride is both hygroscopic and deliquescent. This means that the product can absorb moisture from the air, even to the point of converting to liquid brine. For this reason, protecting solid calcium chloride from excessive moisture exposure is the primary requirement to maintain product quality while in storage.
Opened packages should be tightly resealed after each use to prevent caking and liquid brine formation that may result from exposure to humid air. They should be stored in a dry place, but not in an attic, on shelves or in any area where the leakage of liquid brine could cause damage to ceilings and other building structure, as well as equipment or other items stored below.
Some types of bags do not seal well if stored standing on end, therefore unopened packages should be stored lying flat in a dry area. Valve bags need product pushing on the valve, which only happens if bags are lying down flat.
Palletized product covered by an intact plastic shroud may be stored outdoors on a well-drained asphalt or concrete surface. If the shroud is torn, pierced or removed, the palletized product should be stored indoors or under a waterproof covering. Packages that are typically not shrouded should be stored indoors or under a waterproof covering. Solid calcium chloride is temperature-stable under all ambient storage conditions.
Storage of Liquid Calcium Chloride Products
The preferred material of construction for large liquid storage tanks is carbon steel with an epoxy-based interior coating and a durable, high-quality coating on the exterior. Non-metallic materials, such as fiberglass or plastic, work well for smaller tanks storing product at ambient temperature. However, plastic tanks may lose strength at high temperature if used to make up solutions by dissolving solid calcium chloride.
Stainless steels are generally not suitable for liquid calcium chloride storage due to their vulnerability to chloride-induced stress cracking. Unlined carbon steel in continuous liquid calcium chloride service at ambient temperature is expected to corrode 10-20 mils per year, which may or may not be acceptable depending on the situation.
Containers constructed from 5454 or 6061 aluminum have been shown to passivate with time without suffering excessive corrosion and uneconomical service life.
Calcium chloride is very hygroscopic and deliquescent. It thus may have to be conveniently dried before weighted. The aq. salt solution may either uptake or evaporate water if its container is left open for some time, depending on solution concentration, temperature, and on the contacting atmosphere relative humidity. The wet salt or its aq. solution are prone to react with atmospheric CO2, accordingly:
CaCl2 + H2O ↔ CaO + 2HCl; CaO + CO2 → CaCO3↓.
You may want to check the pH of the calcium chloride solution, as it tends to decrease upon such carbonation. The slightly carbonated salt can be purified by recrystallization from absolute ethanol.
Introduction
It has long been known that curing concrete during cold weather can result in an inferior product with substandard properties. Curing also takes much longer, adding to job costs and extending the time before the concrete surface can be used. Although there are many types of accelerators, calcium chloride continues to be one of the most preferred. No other accelerator has been used so successfully for so long.
Why use Calcium Chloride?
Calcium chloride (CaCl2) has the ability to accelerate cement hydration and reduce set time by as much as two thirds. Research has shown that a 2% addition rate has an equivalent cure strength at 50°F as plain concrete at 70°F. Set times below 50°F will be longer, but the accelerated cure rate will still be greater than that of plain concrete. In addition to the important contributions of cold weather protection and early strength of concrete, calcium chloride provides other benefits as well:
- Improves workability…regardless of mixture design, less water is required to produce a given slump when calcium chloride is used.
- Improves strength of air-entrained concrete…calcium chloride compensates for the reduction in strength with a higher cement factor concrete.
- Reduces bleeding…this is due to the early stiffening produced by acceleration and allows earlier final finishing.
These advantages combine to produce better quality concrete faster. Concrete acceleration with calcium chloride greatly facilitates completing jobs as quickly and economically as possible.
Crystals and granules intended to melt ice and snow keep walkways safe. But, like many useful chemicals, they can cause problems if they are misused.
Ice-melting chemicals commonly contain sodium chloride or rock salt, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, and/or urea, also known as carbonyl diamide. (Products intended to provide traction, instead of melting ice or snow, include sand, gravel, kitty litter, and wood ash.) These ice-melting chemicals lower the freezing point of water. Applying them on top of a layer of ice or snow results in slush. The slush then can be shoveled or pushed off the walkway.
Sodium chloride, the same thing as table salt, and calcium chloride are the products most often used by homeowners. The amount to use depends on the type of chemical. Labels will tell you how much product to use per foot or yard of surface. More is not better! Recommended amounts will produce the maximum effect with the minimum amount of damage to plants, concrete, cement, soil, and water.
Poison Control gets many calls about children who put ice melting crystals into their mouths. Usually, this does not cause problems. BUT, some of these chemicals can cause irritation; a child may develop a rash, redness inside the mouth, or drooling. If a child swallows a piece of rock salt or another ice melting crystal, wipe out the child’s mouth, give a small glass of milk or water, and wash the child’s hands and face.
Pets can develop dryness and irritation on their paws and skin if they walk through ice melting chemicals. Wipe all of the product off their paws and fur as soon as they come inside. Then, wash carefully to remove any residue. Pets can develop mouth irritation if they eat the chemicals or the resulting melt-water. They may even swallow enough sodium or calcium to poison themselves. If a pet develops drooling, vomiting, seizures, or other symptoms, call the veterinarian right away.
Using Calcium Chloride for dust control is not only affordable and effective, but it has also stood the test of time. For more than 100 years, Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) has been used in Maryland, Virginia and the Washington D.C. region to reduce the amount of dust flying around on dirt and gravel roads, construction sites, baseball fields, solar farms, quarries, and more. Airborne dust is harmful to nearby people, houses, animals, and vegetation. Dirt roads untreated with dust control product produces high amounts of dust mites, erodes soil, and degrades nearby underwater plants.
De-icing And Freezing-Point Depression
By depressing the freezing point of water, calcium chloride is used to prevent ice formation and is used to de-ice. This application consumes the greatest amount of calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is relatively harmless to plants and soil. As a deicing agent, it is much more effective at lower temperatures than sodium chloride. When distributed for this use, it usually takes the form of small, white spheres a few millimeters in diameter, called prills. Solutions of calcium chloride can prevent freezing at temperatures as low as −52 °C (−62 °F), making it ideal for filling agricultural implement tires as a liquid ballast, aiding traction in cold climates.
Road surfacing
Calcium chloride was sprayed on this road to prevent weathering, giving it a wet appearance even in dry weather.
The second largest application of calcium chloride exploits its hygroscopic nature and the tackiness of its hydrates; calcium chloride is highly hygroscopic and its hydration is an exothermic reaction. A concentrated solution keeps a liquid layer on the surface of dirt roads, which suppresses the formation of dust. It keeps the finer dust particles on the road, providing a cushioning layer. If these are allowed to blow away, the large aggregate begins to shift around and the road breaks down. Using calcium chloride reduces the need for grading by as much as 50% and the need for fill-in materials as much as 80%.
Food
The average intake of calcium chloride as food additives has been estimated to be 160–345 mg/day. Calcium chloride is permitted as a food additive in the European Union for use as a sequestrant and firming agent with the E number E509. It is considered as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Its use in organic crop production is generally prohibited under the US National Organic Program.
In marine aquariums, calcium chloride is one way to introduce bioavailable calcium for calcium carbonate-shelled animals such as mollusks and some cnidarians. Calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser mix) or a calcium reactor can also be used.
As a firming agent, calcium chloride is used in canned vegetables, in firming soybean curds into tofu and in producing a caviar substitute from vegetable or fruit juices. It is commonly used as an electrolyte in sports drinks and other beverages, including bottled water. The extremely salty taste of calcium chloride is used to flavor pickles without increasing the food’s sodium content. Calcium chloride’s freezing-point depression properties are used to slow the freezing of the caramel in caramel-filled chocolate bars. Also, it is frequently added to sliced apples to maintain texture.
In brewing beer, calcium chloride is sometimes used to correct mineral deficiencies in the brewing water. It affects flavor and chemical reactions during the brewing process, and can also affect yeast function during fermentation.
In cheesemaking, calcium chloride is sometimes added to processed (pasteurized/homogenized) milk to restore the natural balance between calcium and protein in casein. It is added before the coagulant.
Calcium chloride is used to prevent cork spot and bitter pit on apples by spraying on the tree during the late growing season.
Drying tubes are frequently packed with calcium chloride. Kelp is dried with calcium chloride for use in producing sodium carbonate. Anhydrous calcium chloride has been approved by the FDA as a packaging aid to ensure dryness (CPG 7117.02).
The hydrated salt can be dried for re-use but will dissolve in its own water of hydration if heated quickly and form a hard amalgamated solid when cooled.
Other Applications
Calcium chloride is used in concrete mixes to accelerate the initial setting, but chloride ions lead to corrosion of steel rebar, so it should not be used in reinforced concrete. The anhydrous form of calcium chloride may also be used for this purpose and can provide a measure of the moisture in concrete.
Calcium chloride is included as an additive in plastics and in fire extinguishers, in blast furnaces as an additive to control scaffolding (clumping and adhesion of materials that prevent the furnace charge from descending), and in fabric softener as a thinner.
The exothermic dissolution of calcium chloride is used in self-heating cans and heating pads.
In the oil industry, calcium chloride is used to increase the density of solids-free brines. It is also used to provide inhibition of swelling clays in the water phase of invert emulsion drilling fluids.
CaCl2 acts as flux material, decreasing the melting point, in the Davy process for the industrial production of sodium metal through the electrolysis of molten NaCl.
Similarly, CaCl2 is used as a flux and electrolyte in the FFC Cambridge process for titanium production, where it ensures the proper exchange of calcium and oxygen ions between the electrodes.
Calcium chloride is also used in the production of activated charcoal.
Calcium chloride can be used to precipitate fluoride ions from water as insoluble CaF2.
Calcium chloride is also an ingredient used in ceramic slipware. It suspends clay particles so that they float within the solution, making it easier to use in a variety of slipcasting techniques.
Calcium chloride dihydrate (20 percent by weight) dissolved in ethanol (95 percent ABV) has been used as a sterilant for male animals. The solution is injected into the testes of the animal. Within one month, necrosis of testicular tissue results in sterilization.