Silica Gel Desiccant

Silica gel is silicon dioxide (SiO2), produced by dehydrating silicic acid (H4SiO4), which can be produced by neutralization of a silicate (SiO4-), usually sodium silicate. This produced by dissolving silicon dioxide (quartz sand) in a sodium hydroxide (lye).

The dehydration step gives it a high surface area. Silica gel absorbs moisture and can be regenerated by heating it to 150 C. It can be even eaten if hydrated by adding enough water, but the little sachets are not food-grade. Food-grade silica can be bought from a supplement store. It's basically a voluminous filler if that helps with intestinal problems.

Silica gel is a desiccant that absorbs moisture and is included in the packaging of many products such as shoes, purses, medications, electronic equipment, computers, etc. This can help to prevent damages due to excess moisture.

Desiccants are one of the most common external substance ingestion by children under 6 years of age reported to the Utah Poison Control Center, with 584 reports in 1999. On silica gel packets we can see the strong words of caution – Do not eat, harmful if swallowed, throw away.

Parents may be worried after reading the silica gel caution label if their child puts the package in their mouth or eats the granules. Rest assured, the contents of the packet, silica gel, are basically sand and it is not harmful if swallowed. However, we should be careful to keep the product out of small children’s reach, because the silica gel packet may be a choking hazard.

Silica gel desiccant will not act with any other chemical substances. It is known as an inert substance. Therefore swallowing a small quantity is not a big issue. However, once it is entered into the mouth we could feel some irritations. It is because the desiccant will try to absorb moisture from our mouth.