Major Uses of Silica Gel Desiccants in Pharma Sector

What is Silica Gel Desiccant?

Silica Gel is one of the most commonly used types of desiccant. A granular, porous form of Silicon Dioxide, Silica Gel is synthetically manufactured from sodium silicate. The Silica Gel material is naturally tough and is considered to be more solid that other commonly used gels like gelatin and agar. While silica gel does have other uses, it is mainly employed as a desiccant in various industries because of its composition.

Silica Gel has a pore size of around 2.4 nanometers and can attract a large quantity of water molecules. This characteristic of the Silica Gel Desiccant makes it highly popular in different industries like pharmaceuticals, food, healthcare, and transportation. In all these fields, the presence of moisture on product spoils them and leads to the growth of mold and fungi. So it becomes highly important to remove all traces of humidity from the atmosphere and this is where the role of Silica Gel desiccants becomes important. This high demand for Silica Gel translates into good business for Silica Gel desiccant distributors.

Silica Gel Desiccants in Pharmaceutical Industry

Desiccants play an important role in the pharmaceutical industry. Many pharmaceutical intermediates, medicines in preparation and finished stages, are susceptible to moisture. The presence of humidity can cause great damage to the above mentioned drugs. So as a form of protection, the presence of a silica gel canister or sachet, is considered very useful. Moisture control in the form of a Silica Gel Desiccant, works well for product appearance and performance.

Major Uses of Silica Gel Desiccants

In the pharmaceutical sector, Silica Gel Desiccants are used for the following:

1)       Prevents moisture from reducing the potency of drugs

2)       The presence of humidity can deteriorate the active intermediates. The use of Silica Gel Desiccant safeguards against this phenomenon.

3)       Prevents humidity from causing hardening of tablets

4)       Protects against discoloration occurring due to moisture

5)       Silica Gel Desiccants actively protect against the growth of mold and mildew on pharma products due to exposure to humidity.

6)       Prevents the generation of unpleasant smells

7)       The presence of moisture in packages containing tablets can cause spreading of the tablet print. Just pop a silica gel packet into the package and this problem will not occur again.

Types of Silica Gel Desiccants Used

The Silica Gel used in the Pharma sector is of two types: the white, non-colour changing type and the type, which changes colour when filled with moisture. The colour changing Silica Gel Desiccants are available in many shades like blue-to-pink and the more recently launched yellow-to-green formats. Suppliers of Silica Gel Blue are always a happy lot as it is this version, which is mostly purchased by pharmaceutical companies.