Silica Gel Desiccant Rated as the Best Desiccant

Silica Desiccant is basically a granular gel which is a composition of sodium silicate made by the artificial decomposition of silicon dioxide. As the name says gel, but actually silica exists in the form of hard translucent granules that tends to swell up after absorbing certain percentage of humidity or water. As it is an amorphous substance and looks like crystals or beads it has micro-pours structure which has interlocking cavity providing enough surface area to adsorb moist air. This is the reason which makes Silica gel has the best technique to absorb humidity, thus making it the high capacity desiccant. In case the desiccant has reached the highest point where the molecule has no capacity left to adsorb humidity further it even has the feature to change its color. In this case silica gel molecules are of 3 types Orange, blue and white.

 These colored silica gel granules are similar to that of the regular silica gel apart from that different colored granules have different capacity to adsorb moister. As soon as the granule has absorbed enough water it changes its color indicating that the silica gel beads needs to be replaced. Among all the beads silica gel orange is considered t have the best capacity to absorb moisture. It has the capacity to absorb 40 percent moisture of its weight. The best thing about these beads is that even if it has reached the level of saturation it can be reused by heating it over 300o F, this will remove all the moisture content form the bead.

Silica gels are also used in Breathers. There are many companies who are using these breathers for preserving their products. These breathers are mostly used by the power generating companies. Humidity is the biggest enemy of electronic products. So, the function of these silica gel breathers is to absorb all the moisture content which is sucked by those electronic transformers during their breathing process. During the breathing process of silica gel breathers, the air which comes in it is humid and has dirt. This air has to be purified in order to avoid any damage to the electronic items. So the silica gel breather absorbs moist air and ensures that only pure air is breathed out for the transformer. Initially the color of the silica gel beads will be blue but as it absorbs moisture its color will gradually turn to pink. Breathers also have a cup so that the dust particles can settle down in that cup.