Sodium percarbonate

Sodium percarbonate (or sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate) is an addition compoundof sodium carbonateand hydrogen peroxide. It is a white crystalline water-soluble chemical compound. When dissolved into water, its releases H₂O₂and soda ash(sodium carbonate):

2 Na₂CO₃ . 3 H₂O₂ ? 2 Na₂CO₃ + 3 H₂O₂

The pH of the resulting solution is typically alkaline, which activates the H₂O₂ for bleaching. The dry powder contains about 30% w/w H₂O₂.

Sodium percarbonate offers many of the same functional benefits as liquid hydrogen peroxide. It dissolves into water rapidly to release oxygenand provides powerful cleaning, bleaching, stain removal and deodorizingcapabilities. Besides, sodium carbonate decomposed from sodium percarbonate is able to increase the pHvalue in washing water to knock down the activities of calcium ion and magnesium ion, thus intenerates water. Another benefit offered by sodium carbonate by raising the pH value is to reduce the negative chargesof dirt and fibre resulting in the strengthening repellency between dirt and fibre, which leads to the improvement of bleaching and stain removing effects.

According to http://www.chem-world.com/sodium_percarbonate, compared with chlorine bleaching chemicals that leave contaminating residues in the environment, sodium percarbonate is an environmentally friendly chemical which decomposes into oxygen, water and natural soda ashwhen subjected to moisture. Sodium percarbonate is increasingly being the substitute for sodium perboratein detergentformulations due to its lower dissolving temperature in water, as well as the characteristic of no contaminationon soil, as sodium perborateis made of boraxwhich is found to have negative impact on the soilquality.

Detergentor bleach compositions formulated with sodium percarbonate have a strong stain removal capability. It is very effective as a laundry presoak for heavily stained articles. It is color safe. It brightens colors and prevents fabric from becoming yellowed or darkened. Sodium percarbonate is effective as a disinfectanton both bacteriaand viruses. It is an excellent ingredient in personal careand home care formulations for hygiene. It is found eg. in Cillit Bangcrystals.

For its environmental advantages, sodium percarbonate is a good oxygen release chemical for agriculturaland aquiculturalapplications.

See also

• Sodium perborate
• Sodium persulphate
• Sodium perphosphate
• Sodium hypochlorite
• Bleach

External links

• http://www.chem-world.com
• Removing Stains

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium+percarbonate Wikipedia article Sodium percarbonate.