Sodium Hypochlorite 12.5%

Sodium hypochlorite at 12.5% available chlorine, roughly ten times the strength of household bleach.

Typical uses

• Potable and wastewater disinfection, at NSF grade
• Cooling tower biocide and biofilm control
• CIP sanitation in food and beverage plants
• Odour control and oxidation of sulfides
• Cyanide destruction in metal finishing waste treatment

It degrades — plan around that

Hypochlorite loses strength continuously from the day it is made. Degradation accelerates sharply with temperature, with light exposure, and with metal contamination. A tote stored in the sun through a Southern California summer can lose a substantial fraction of its available chlorine in weeks.

Order to consumption rather than to tank capacity, store out of direct sun and as cool as practical, and expect to dose more as a batch ages. If you are consistently overdosing at the end of a delivery cycle, the answer is smaller more frequent deliveries — we run regular routes, so that is usually easy to arrange.

Compatibility — the one that hurts people

Mixing hypochlorite with any acid liberates chlorine gas. Mixing it with ammonia produces chloramines. Both have injured people in facilities where the two products were stored close enough for a spill to reach the other, or where an operator dosed into the wrong tank.

Store hypochlorite and acids in separate areas with separate containment. This is not an abundance of caution; it is the single most common serious incident in chemical handling.