Calcium Chloride

About This Product

Calcium chloride, CaCl2 with CAS number 10043-52-4, is supplied as flakes, prills, granules or solution in anhydrous and dihydrate forms. It is extremely hygroscopic and deliquescent, and dissolves with a markedly exothermic reaction. That exotherm is what separates it from sodium chloride as a de-icer. Rock salt depresses the freezing point but absorbs heat as it dissolves, so it becomes sluggish as temperature falls and is largely ineffective below about minus 9 degrees Celsius. Calcium chloride releases heat as it dissolves, which accelerates melting and keeps it working down to around minus 25 or lower, and its brine remains liquid at temperatures where salt brine has refrozen. The same deliquescence underlies its other main uses. Spread on unpaved roads it draws moisture from the air and holds it in the surface, binding fines and suppressing dust long after water would have evaporated. In concrete it is the classic set accelerator, though its chloride content rules it out for reinforced work. It is also a drying agent, a brine refrigerant and an oilfield completion fluid. It is used in road de-icing, dust suppression, concrete acceleration, drying and desiccation, oilfield fluids, refrigeration brines and tyre ballasting. Bio Green Chem supplies calcium chloride to specification on assay, alkali chlorides, magnesium, alkalinity, water-insolubles and heavy metals.