Sodium Carbonate in Sodium Hypochlorite

A. Hi TSHEPANG. One answer is 8-hydroxy quinoline according to patent application CN1597497A as revealed by google. Keeping concentrations below 7.5% will help. Apparently, boric acid or sodium bicarbonate can be used for very low concentrations.

A google search for "STABILIZE SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE" shows dozens of long and very interesting articles on the technology of sodium hypochlorite stabilization. This forum can be good for getting input towards resolving a highly detailed very specific problem, but I don't think we can cover the whole broad technology of that general subject. Good luck!

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Regards,

A. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember from my early industrial chemistry classes that commercial hypochlorite is made using sodium hydroxide and chlorine gas. Sodium carbonate is present in the sodium hydroxide as a byproduct so it ends up in the hypochlorite solution. Max limits are up to you and your supplier. I'd start looking on the net for sodium hypochlorite manufacturing processes and go from there.

Regards,

A. Hi.

I was searching for Sodium Hypochlorite in Indonesia and found your site.

As mentioned before you could search for manufacturing or the product Sodium Hypochlorite and you'll probably end up with heaps.

Here is a link you could check up on.


http://www.orica-chloralkali.com/BUSINESS/CHE/CHLORALKALI/CHE00139.NSF/Page/Products_Sodium_Hypochlorite

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Ed. note, Jan. 2022: Unfortunately that link, like 99% of old links, is broken.

A. Sodium carbonate is often formed as an impurity in sodium hydroxide solutions. It is made by the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolving in the caustic soda [affil links] and forming sodium carbonate. It is usually seen as a white powder on the neck of the containers. I have never heard of it being used to stabilise hypochlorite, but if it does, it could be because it helps to keep the pH on the alkaline side, thereby reducing the propensity of the hypochlorite to release chlorine gas due to a shift in pH towards acidity. I wouldn't use sodium carbonate as the main stabiliser for hypochlorite, as I cannot see it being very effective in the long term.