Why The Bag Matters
Left open to the atmosphere, caustic soda takes up moisture and converts at the surface to sodium carbonate. The result is a caked block that is harder to charge and slightly weaker than the specification says. The counter measure is simple: dry sealed packaging, kept closed until the moment of use.
Standard Bag Construction
Our pearl standard is a 25 kg pack using two series of plastic in three layer construction, dried and sealed. Flakes are supplied in 25 kg bags or in jumbo bags. Customised packaging and labels are accepted, so a buyer who repacks or resells can have their own artwork on the bag face.
What Is Printed On The Bag
- Product name and physical form
- Purity, for example NAOH 99%
- Net weight 25.0 kg and gross weight 25.1 kg
- UN 1823 sodium hydroxide solid
- Class 8 corrosive diamond label
- Country of origin
25 kg Bags Or Jumbo Bags
The choice is driven by your unloading equipment, not by price alone. If bags are cut open by hand at a charging point, 25 kg is the practical unit because one person can move it. If you have a hoist and a bulk bag discharge station, jumbo bags remove most of the manual handling and cut the cost per tonne of getting the material into the process.
Palletising And Container Loading
Bags can be palletised or floor stacked. Palletised loading is faster to unload with a forklift and protects the bottom layer. Floor stacking gets more weight into the same box where the destination has manual unloading. Either way the load is squared off before the doors close so it cannot shift on the voyage.
Warehouse Conditions At Your End
- Store under cover, off the floor and away from any risk of standing water or roof leaks
- Keep the store dry and reasonably cool
- Reseal any bag that has been opened, immediately
- Segregate from acids, from aluminium and zinc, and from organic materials
- Keep the class 8 label visible on stacked stock
- Rotate stock so older pallets are consumed first
Shelf Life In Practice
In an unopened, correctly sealed bag held in a dry store, caustic soda keeps its specification for a long time. What shortens its useful life is exposure: a torn bag, a damp floor, or a part used bag left open on a mezzanine. Nearly every complaint about caked product traces back to one of those three.
