How Drying Tubes Protect Your Solutions

Many applications use acids, bases, or solvents in high concentrations. These chemicals often have different properties than water, such as a different density, viscosity, or vapor pressure. Furthermore, most of these chemicals are highly aggressive and may attack plastic materials, metal, or even glass. It is very important to consider the risk of these chemicals and organize appropriate safety steps. However, in some cases, you also must consider protecting your acid or alkaline solution from certain influences.

Fuming acids are characterized by gas rising off the surface. These acids are made of the maximum concentration of gas dissolved in water, such as 37 % hydrochloric acid and 65 % nitric acid. Such acids need protection from dilution by surrounding air humidity. Humidity traps are often built into the lids of bottles containing these chemicals. However, if you want to dispense these liquids by using a bottletop dispenser, care must be taken not to introduce air humidity into the bottle and the system. A drying tube is the ideal accessory for this application. It is simply screwed to the back of the bottletop dispenser and filled with a moisture absorber e.g., silica gel. The air needed for proper operation of the bottletop dispenser is then filtered by the drying tube and only a very low amount of humidity enters the bottle. The acids are protected from dilution and your experiment is protected from failure by incorrect acid concentration.


When working with alkaline solutions, the formation of carbonates inside the liquid and the bottletop dispenser may lead to problems. When using a drying tube, for example filled with sodium hydroxide pills, formation of carbonates is excluded. You will be able to work with the liquid and bottletop dispenser without any issues.
And don’t forget to protect yourself and your colleagues by providing and wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment, such as a lab coat, gloves, and goggles. Additionally, long trousers such as jeans and sturdy shoes should be worn.

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