Desiccants for Dehydration

Desiccants for Dehydration

This article is about desiccants and silica gel or we can say it is about the removal of water through chemical or physical means. If the water removal is known as dehydration in medical condition. If it is in a chemical reaction, it is a dehydration reaction. For food preservation by dehydration, it is drying food. For crop desiccation by application of herbicides, it is crop desiccation.

However, the water removal process is taking place everywhere or in all the industries. Generally, water content is removing from anything is to increase its lifetime. Because most of all the electronic equipment will get damaged if it has water content. Therefore we can see small silica gel packets along with it as a drying agent.

For food products, from ancient times itself, the human is using dried foods. They have dried it in summer and saved it for winter seasons. To increase the shelf life of the food we can dry it. By removing water content from the food products, especially from fruits and nuts, we can keep it for a long time. But even after dried the fruits and nuts, it will remain some moisture content from the atmosphere. To avoid it silica gels are using in modern food industries.

A desiccant is a porous substance that can attract and holds water. It induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. It can adsorb water content and can e save it in its body. Therefore, desiccants are keeping in small sachets along with the products which we need to protect from moisture.

A desiccator is a device that is working with desiccants. There will be a stopcock to permit the desiccator to be evacuated. Such models are usually known as vacuum desiccators. When a vacuum is to be applied, it's a typical observe to criss-cross the vacuum desiccator with tape or to put it behind a screen to reduce injury or injury caused by an implosion. To maintain a decent seal, vacuum grease is typically applied to the flanges.