Caustic Soda: Definition, Benefits, and How to Use it Safely

Caustic soda has many advantages for daily activities and industrial needs. The functions of caustic soda include descaling and becoming raw material for making soap.

This article discusses caustic soda, its advantages, and how to use it safely. So, read the article until the end!

What Is Caustic Soda?

Caustic soda is one of the common raw materials that can be found in cleaning products and soaps. Typically, it is white-colored, odorless, and solid at room temperature.

Liquid caustic soda is usually colorless and odorless. Then, is NaOH similar to caustic soda? The answer is yes, NaOH is the chemical compound name of caustic soda or sodium hydroxide.

Caustic soda can react to strong acids and water. That’s why it is not recommended to pour water directly into it because it is hazardous.

It is also corrosive, can react to moisture, and can emit heat when dissolved in water. This heat can cause a fire spark if being used close to flammable material.

Sodium hydroxide is also produced in the chemical industry and will be leveraged by other industries, such as textiles, papers, soaps, and aluminum.

Due to its multipurpose characteristics, this chemical compound is massively produced for various needs. The United States produced 11.63 million tons metrics of sodium hydroxide in 2019.

Uses of Caustic Soda

The benefits of caustic soda for daily uses are to be cleaner and stain remover. Yet, this material has quite a wide range of uses for daily activities and manufacturing processes, such as:

1. Cleaning Clogged Toilet

Have you ever used caustic soda for a clogged toilet? This function has become one of the aces in cleaning the clogged toilet or other part of your home. It can turn fat and organic blockages in toilet drains into soap, making it cleaner.

2. Becoming Cleaner

Caustic soda is often used to clean fat in the pipeline or household tools. This ingredient is also commonly found in chlorine bleach and detergents.

3. Becoming Material for Medicine

Sodium hydroxide is usually used in the pharmaceutical industry to produce some medicines, such as aspirin, cholesterol medication, and anticoagulants.

4. Adjusting the Acidity of Water

Caustic soda can be utilized to adjust the acidity of water and remove heavy metals in the water. It is also used to manufacture water disinfectants.

5. Preserving the Food

Sodium hydroxide is utilized to preserve food, especially canned food, to prevent bacteria and fungus. Aside from that, it is used to maintain the crispness of the food.

6. Removing Substance in Wood

The wood industry uses it to remove unwanted substances from paper and wood product making. As a result, you will only get the cellulose of the wood, which later is leveraged for paper manufacturing.

7. Becoming Material for Cosmetics

Sodium hydroxide is usually found in beauty products, such as hair coloring, soap, perfume, and hairspray. Adding it to beauty products can stabilize the pH.

How to Use Caustic Soda

As mentioned before, caustic soda can react to particular conditions and release heat when dissolved in water. Thus, improper use can be dangerous.

Direct contact with sodium hydroxide can cause burns, stomach ache, nausea, and diarrhea. Inhaling it also might cause irritation and burns.

However, the effects depend on the amount of caustic soda contacting directly, the concentration, exposure duration, and mode of contact with

That’s why you must use sodium hydroxide safely and with proper tools, such as rubber gloves, masks, goggles, and aprons. Next, you can follow the procedure on the package or adhere to these steps:

Dissolve caustic soda as needed in cold water and not the other way around. Avoid pouring water or other liquid into the caustic soda. Make sure that the container is big enough to prevent direct sparks.
Stir with a wooden spoon. Avoid stirring directly with your hand despite wearing gloves.
Once it is mixed well, you can pour the mixture slowly into the water drain and wait for 30 minutes.
Pour boiled water into the water drain.
If the drain is still clogged or the stain is still hard to remove, you can repeat the steps.
Do not forget to wash your hands and tools with water flow until all is clean.

The First Aid When Contacting with Caustic Soda

If you accidentally make direct contact with sodium hydroxide, you can do several first aids. When your eyes make contact with the spark, you must immediately wash your widely open eyes with water flow for 30 minutes. Make sure to remove contact lenses.

If your skin touches the caustic soda mixture, you can take the exposed clothes off and wash your hand in the water flow for 15 minutes. When you accidentally inhale the gas or spark, you must immediately get away from the area.

Lastly, if you accidentally swallow the mixture, avoid vomiting it and then drink water immediately if there is no respiratory distress and no loss of consciousness. If symptoms worsen or do not show improvement, contact a doctor immediately.

Those are the information about caustic soda, its functions, and how to use it. In using the substance, make sure to protect yourself and do the right procedure.

This chemical substance has many benefits for various purposes, one of them is industrial needs. For industrial raw material, such as paper and textiles, Chandra Asri Group as a chemical solution company provides quality caustic soda.

In Indonesia, caustic soda is a crucial raw ingredient for downstream industries such nickel extraction, textile manufacturing, and water treatment. Therefore, be sure to use Chandra Asri Group's premium industrial caustic soda!