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Silica Gel Packs for Moisture

Started Oct 5, 2018 | Discussions thread
petrochemist Veteran Member • Posts: 3,619
Re: Silica Gel Packs for Moisture

HRC2016 wrote:

Is there a way to recycle the bags you get with new gear? I would prefer not tossing them in the landfill.

You can dry them out if you have a vacuum oven, but I'd rather doubt you do. The one in our lab cost over £1000, without the vacuum pump...

I suppose you could cut them open & repackage them in sown fabric, of perhaps just sow the seams of the packages as they are - so you can heat them to about 120C in a normal oven, but I suspect the amount of silica gel in them isn't enough to be worth the effort. The usual packs only have 1 - 2 g in them which would get saturated very quickly in anything you open often.

The contents are a silicon oxide not dissimilar to sand. Water insoluble & fairly unreactive. AFAIK the only hazard is a s a fine powder in the air where it can cause silicosis if breathed in..

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