F.3.1 SILICA GEL: The most commonly known and used desiccant is silica gel which is a form of silica dioxide (SiO2), a naturally occurring mineral. It will work from below freezing to past the boiling point of water, but performs best at room temperatures (70-90° F) and high humidity (60-90%). Its performance begins to drop off over 100° F, but will continue to work until approximately 220° F. It will lower the relative humidity in a container to around 40% at any temperature in its range until it is saturated. Silica gel will absorb up to 40% of its weight in moisture. Some forms are approved by the FDA for direct food use (check with your supplier to be sure). It recharges easily (see below in the indicating silica gel text) and does not swell in size as it adsorbs moisture.
F.3.2 INDICATING SILICA GEL: In the retail trade, the most commonly found form of silica gel is indicating silica gel which is small white crystals looking much like granulated sugar with small pink or blue colored crystals scattered throughout. This is ordinary silica gel with the colored specks being coated with cobalt chloride, a heavy metal salt. When the gel has absorbed approximately eight percent of its weight in water the colored crystals will turn from blue to pink making an easy visual indicator of whether the gel has become saturated with moisture. Because cobalt is a heavy metal, indicating silica gel is not food safe and should be kept from spilling into anything edible.
The indicating silica gel will still adsorb up to 40% of its weight in water vapor just like the non-indicating type will but once it has gone past the 8% level and the crystals have turned pink there is no way to tell how close it is to saturation. This isn't necessarily a problem, you'll just have to treat like the other non-indicating desiccants and either weigh it to determine adsorption or use a humidity indicator card. These cards are made to show various humidity ranges and can be had from many desiccant and packaging suppliers.
When saturated, both varieties of silica gel can be dried out and used again. This is done by heating the crystals in an oven at a temperature of no more than 300° F (149° C) for approximately three hours or until the crystals turn blue. Dehydrating the desiccant may also be accomplished by heating in a microwave oven. Using a 900 watt oven heat the crystals for three minute intervals until the color change occurs. The exact amount of time necessary will depend upon the oven wattage. Spreading the desiccant in a broad pan in a shallow layer will speed the process. Heating to 325° F (149° C) or more, or using a microwave oven over 900 watts can damage the gel and render it unable to adsorb moisture.
If your desiccant is packaged, particularly if packaged in Tyvek, do not heat it above 250° F (121° C) or you could damage the material. This leaves a fairly narrow temperature window since silica gel will not begin to desorb moisture below 220° F (104° C). It's a good idea to use a reliable oven thermometer to check your oven temperature as the thermostats in home ovens are often off by more than twenty five degrees. Start with the packets in a cold oven and raise the temperature to 245° F (118° C), keeping it there for twenty four hours. Spread the packets so they are not touching and keep them at least 16 inches from any heating elements or flames so that radiant heat does not damage the packaging. Tyvek should not be microwaved.
F.3.3 CLAY DESICCANT: Although not typically found for sale on the retail market, clay desiccant is fairly common in commercial and industrial use. The primary reason for this seems to be that it is inexpensive compared to any other form of desiccant. Some mail order suppliers offer it for retail sale.
The material is Montmorillonite clay, composed primarily of magnesium aluminum silicate, a naturally occurring mineral. After mining it is purified, reduced to granules and subjected to a controlled dehydration process to increase its sorbent porosity. It recharges easily and does not swell as it adsorbs water vapor. It works well at low and room temperatures, but has a rather low ceiling temperature. At 120° F it will begin to desorb or shed the moisture it has adsorbed. This is an important consideration for storage in hot areas.
Subject to a degree of variability for being a natural material, clay desiccant will adsorb approximately 25% of its weight in water vapor at 77° F and 40% relative humidity.
F.3.4 CALCIUM OXIDE:Also known as "quicklime" or "unslaked lime", calcium oxide is a slow, but strong adsorbent. It is efficient at low humidities and can drop moisture vapor to below 10% relative humidity. Qucklime is caustic and must be carefully handled, particularly with regards to dust inhalation and exposure to skin and eyes. It expands as it soaks up water vapor and this must be taken into account when packaging it. It will adsorb up to about 28% of its weight in moisture, but does it slowly over a period of several days rather than a matter of hours like other desiccants. It is most effective when used in high humidity environment where a very low humidity level is desired. It will release a fair amount of heat if exposed to direct (liquid) moisture or extreme humidities.
Calcium oxide can be recharged, but I do not have any details on how to go about this other than roasting at fire temperatures.
For expedient use, quicklime can be manufactured from clean, pure lime stone (calcium carbonate) or pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) available in the canning sections of many grocery and hardware stores.
F.3.5 CALCIUM SULFATE: Also known as the mineral gypsum and commercially as Drierite, calcium sulfate is another naturally occurring mineral. It is produced by the controlled dehydration of gypsum (CaSO4). It is chemically stable and does not readily release its adsorbed moisture. It has a low adsorbency capacity, only approximately 10% of it weight. It can be regenerated, but apparently not easily so.
For expedient use, gypsum is commonly used in household drywall and Kearny mentions using this source in his Nuclear War Survival Skills. This makes only a so-so desiccant and you'd be much better off to use a more suitable choice but in an emergency it can get the job done.
F.3.6 OTHER DESICCANTS:
From: Pyotr Filipivich pyotr@coho.halcyon.com
Simple trick is to dry a piece of wood in the oven and once it is bone dry (more than usual) then put it in your container and seal it. The wood will suck up any available moisture.
Editors note: Wood can soak up to 14% of its weight in moisture, depending on species. Woods with coarse, open grains work the best. I'm not aware at what temperature it will begin to "desorb" or shed its stored water and it might be fairly low. Some empirical experimentation would be in order before relying heavily on it.
F.4 HOW DO I USE DESICCANTS?: Before you get to this point you should have already used the charts above and determined how much of the particular desiccant you're interested in you need for the size of the storage containers you'll be using. Once you know that you're ready to put them it into use.
Although they perform different functions, desiccants and oxygen absorbers are used in a similar fashion. They both begin to adsorb their respective targets as soon as they are exposed to them so you want to only keep out in the open air as much desiccant as you are going to use up in fifteen minutes or so. If you'll be using oxygen absorbers in the same package, place the desiccant on the bottom of the package and the oxygen absorber on the top.
If your desiccant is pre-packaged, that's all there is to it, just put it in the package and seal it up. If you have purchased bulk desiccant you'll first need to make your own containers.
I use indicating silica gel for practically everything. My usual procedure is to save or scrounge clear plastic pill bottles, such as aspirin bottles or small plastic jars. Fill the bottle with the desiccant (remember to dry the gel first) and then use a double thickness of coffee filter paper carefully and securely tied around the neck of the bottle to keep any of it from leaking out (remember the indicating type of silica gel is not food safe). The paper is very permeable to moisture so the gel can do its adsorbing, but it's tight enough not to let the crystals out. I use plain cotton string for this as both adhesive tapes and rubber bands have a way of going bad over time which could allow the cap to come off and the desiccant to spill into the food.
For containers that have openings too narrow to use a desiccant container such as described above you can make desiccant packets with the same filter paper. The easiest way I've found to do this is to wrap at least a double layer of paper around the barrel of a marker pen and use a thin bead of white glue to seal it with. Slide the packet off the pen and allow to dry. When ready, fill with the necessary amount of desiccant. You can then fold the top over and tie with string or staple closed. Take care that the top is closed securely enough not to allow any desiccant to leak out. Virgin (not recycled) brown Kraft paper can be used to make the packets with as well.
The above method will also work for the other desiccants, subject to whatever precautions the individual type may have.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The indicating form of silica gel (has small blue or pink specks in it) is not edible so you want to use care when putting together your desiccant package to insure that is does not spill into your food.
F.5 WHERE DO I FIND DESICCANTS?:I buy indicating silica gel at Wal-Mart in their dry flower section where it is sold in one and five pound cans for flower drying. I've seen it sold the same way in crafts stores and other department type stores that carry flower-arranging supplies. You can also buy it from many other businesses already prepackaged in one form or another to be used as an adsorbent. All of the desiccant that I've found packaged this way has been rather expensive (to me) so shop carefully. There are a number of Internet sources available which will probably provide your best route for finding what you want.
Businesses carrying packaging supplies sometimes also sell desiccants. Some businesses commonly receive packets or bags of desiccants packaged along with the products they receive. I've seen Montmorillonite clay in bags as large as a pound shipped with pianos coming in from Japan. Small packets of silica gel seem to be packed in nearly everything. Naturally, any salvaged or recycled desiccant should be of a type appropriate for use with the product you want to package.
It is possible to make your own desiccants using gypsum from drywall and maybe Plaster of Paris. Calcium oxide can also be produced from limestone (calcium carbonate) or slaked or pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) by roasting to drive off the adsorbed water and carbon dioxide. I don't have any clear instructions, as of yet, on how to go about this. Please do keep in mind that calcium oxide (quicklime) is caustic in nature and is hazardous if handled incorrectly.
Misc.Survivalism FAQs maintained by Alan T. Hagan, athagan@sprintmail.com
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