Tag: Active Ingredient

What you Should Know about Calcium Chloride

When you hear the word calcium chloride what comes into your mind? Probably, you will say that just like other calcium compounds, it is used as an active ingredient on dietary supplements.

However, it is wrong.

Calcium chloride is not advisable to be used as an active ingredient in dietary supplements because of the presence of the element chlorine, which is one of the integral parts of the chemical compound apart from calcium. Instead, it is used on other applications that will be discussed on the later part of this article. But for the mean time, let us first discuss how calcium chloride is prepared.

Preparation of Calcium Chloride

This chemical compound is a by-product of the so-called Solvay process, or also known as the ammonia-soda process. It is a major industrial process employed in producing calcium carbonate wherein the calcium carbonate is reacted with hydrochloric acid, thus producing calcium chloride.

Application

There are millions of tonnes of calcium chloride that are produced in United States alone. It has different applications which are as follows:

Since calcium chloride is hygroscopic (substances that readily absorbs water from its environment), it can be utilized to dry air and other gases as well. The process involves the conversion of calcium chloride into brine as it absorbs either water or water vapor from the gases that need to be dried.

Because of the extreme heat involved during the compounds dissolution, calcium chloride also acts as an ice-melting compound. It is quite harmless on soil and plants compared to sodium chloride. When used for this purpose, it is now of small white balls which are of few millimeters in diameter which is known as prills.

It is also mixed up with concrete in order to strengthen its mixture as well as to help fast track the initial settings. However, it is not advisable to be used on reinforced concrete since the compound contains chloride ion which is corrosive to steel bars.

It is also employed on minimizing dust on several highways. Its hydroscopic characteristic keeps the liquid layer on the highways surface, which in return holds the dust.

It is also act as an additive in manufacturing of plastics.

It is also employed for waste water treatment as a drainage aid.

Its aqueous form is utilized on the cells genetic transformation by enhancing the permeability of the cell membrane. Such process permits DNA fragments to enter the cell.

There are several precautions with regards to exposure on calcium chloride. Since it also contains acidic properties, you must always use goggles and gloves to protect your eyes and hands. Avoid inhaling it or taking it directly into your mouth. Once reacted with water, it can burn your mouth as well as your esophagus.

Calcium Carbonate Not Just for your Health

CaCO3 or calcium carbonate in chemistry. Does it make sense to you?

Although you hear about this chemical compound before and see it as one of the ingredients in calcium supplements, there are still things that you need to know beyond the finished product. Read on and the rest of this article and learn more about this chemical compound.

Calcium carbonate, as mentioned earlier, is commonly used as a supplement. But there are also other uses of this chemical compound, which will be discussed in the later part of this article.

Aside from the aforementioned applications, calcium carbonate is also a natural ingredient of various elements. It is one of the active ingredients in agricultural lime, as well as a natural substance that can be found on rocks all over the world. Furthermore, it is also one of the major components of sea shells and the shells of the snails. Even the shells of the chickens egg contain an estimated 95 percent of calcium carbonate.

Calcium carbonate that is used in the industry is sourced out from minerals or rocks such as calcite, limestone, chalk, and marble by means of quarrying or mining. Pure calcium carbonate which is used in processing foods or pharmaceutical applications is generated from a pure source, normally from marbles, and prepared by adding another chemical compound which is the carbon dioxide into the calcium hydroxide solution where the calcium carbonate precipitates out of the chemical reaction.

As mentioned earlier, calcium carbonate is used on various applications. These are as follows:

It is mainly used in the construction application, whether as a building material (marble for instance) or limestone aggregate for road building purposes. It is also an active ingredient of the builders lime together with the cementor.

It also used as an extender in commercial paints, particularly in emulsion paints where thirty percent of the paints net weight is either marble or chalk.

It is also used as a filler in plastics.

Calcium carbonate that is in the form of fine ground is important ingredients in the microporous film used in baby nappies.

It is also used on adhesive applications, particularly in ceramic tile adhesives where it contains seventy to eighty percent limestone.

It is mainly employed as whiting elements in ceramics application.

It is the main component of the blackboard chalk.

It is now used as an alternative to kaolin with regards to glossy paper production.

It is not just for your healthit also serves other purposes as well. So do not be surprised if the chalk that you are using in your classroom has the same main content as of the supplement that you are taking everyday.