Sodium Hypochlorite

Sodium hypochlorite is a chemical chlorine compound with the formula NaOCl or NaClO.

This product is in the form of a colorless or slightly yellow watery liquid with a household bleach odor.

Anhydrous compounds of this substance are unstable and may break down explosively.

It is a useful and inexpensive bleach and disinfectant.

This product is used as a disinfectant to eliminate germs that cause disease in people.

Hypochlorous acid is decomposed into hydrochloric acid (HCl) and oxygen (O) that oxygen is a strong axidator.

Sodium Hypochlorite chemical and physical properties

Production

There are several ways to produce sodium hypochlorite.

Hypochlorite potassium first produced by crossing chlorine gas from potash solution by Claude Louis Berthollet.

The resulting liquid was a weak solution of NaClO. For this reason, the potash lye was replaced by cheaper soda lye   by Antoine Labarraque

Cl2 (g) + 2 NaOH (aq) → NaCl (aq) + NaClO (aq) + H2O (aq)

Applications of Sodium Hypochlorite

This substance is used on a large scale in various industrials such as:

• Agriculture
• Chemical industries
• Paint- and lime industries
• Food industries
• Glass industries
• Paper industries
• Pharmaceutical industries
• Synthetics industries
• Waste disposal industries.
• in cooling towers to prevent algae growth
• This product is used to bleach textiles in the textile industry
• To reduce odor, this product is added to industrial wastewater
• It is also used in the metal industry to detoxify cyanide baths
• It is used
• Sodium Hypochlorite is used in the water treatment industry to disinfect water.
• It is used as the main ingredient in home bleachers.
• It is used extensively as a bleaching agent in various industrials such as textile, detergents, and paper and pulp industries like aluminum sulfate.
• It is also used as an oxidizing agent for organic products.
• In the petrochemical industry, it is used in petroleum products refining.
• In the food processing industry for this product.

In the food industry and food processing, this material is used in the preparation of food preparation equipment, in the processing of fruits and vegetables, in the manufacture of mushrooms, beef, and poultry, in the production of maple syrup, and fish processing.

It’s also applied in swimming pools for water disinfection and oxidation.  It has the advantage that microorganisms cannot build up any resistance to it. It is effective against Legionella bacteria and biofilm, in which Legionella bacteria can multiply.