Bleach

Bleach is a great thing to have. Apart from its capabilities in washing clothes and other household items, it is a very efficient disinfectant. Being quite cost-effective and widely available are added bonuses. The bleach that we can get commercially has a concentration of 5.25%. This is more than adequate for most applications. In fact, you have to dilute it to make it suitable for most everyday tasks. However, there might arise a situation where you might need bleach of a higher concentration. How to concentrate bleach would be the obvious question here. Can it be done? Should it be done? Let us find out.

Can bleach be concentrated?

Bleach is nothing but a solution of sodium hypochlorite. It is purposefully mixed down to a concentration of 5.25% during the manufacturing process. This is done for many reasons. This is the most stable concentration of sodium hypochlorite from a storage point of view. Any higher or lower and it will degrade very quickly. It is also the safest concentration at which the disinfecting powers of bleach are retained. As we mentioned, bleach is purposefully mixed down to this concentration by mixing water. Technically, the bleach can be concentrated more by removing some of this water. However, this is easier said than done as we shall find out soon.

How to concentrate bleach?

In theory, as long as you can reduce the amount of water in bleach without affecting the sodium hypochlorite, you can concentrate bleach. The obvious way forward might seem like heating bleach to boil the water off. This is most definitely not recommended. You will cause chemical reactions that will spew harmful fumes of chlorine gas at an alarmingly dangerous rate. The heat will also affect sodium hypochlorite more than water thus defeating the purpose of this endeavor. The correct way to do so is to reduce the pressure to a point where the water starts boiling at a much lower temperature. The setup required to carry out this operation is usually out of the reach of most folks thus making it quite the impractical solution.

A more feasible option would be to buy commercially available concentrated bleach. This is a bleach solution at a concentration of 8.25%. This is not as readily available as regular bleach but the effort needed to find and buy concentrated bleach is so much more acceptable than trying to be a chemistry wizard.

Should you concentrate bleach?

Most, if not all cleaning applications of bleach does not require concentrated bleach. If you are looking to concentrate bleach to boost its disinfecting capabilities then there are more practical, less labor-intensive and a lot safer ways of doing so. Supplement the bleach with some natural options like tea tree oil, thyme oil, lemon, etc. You can also opt for a specially manufactured disinfectant. These might be costlier but not remotely as dangerous as trying to concentrate bleach by you at home. After all, the point is to kill microbes with bleach and not yourself.

Bleach is one of the most underappreciated components of a cleaning kit. It is relatively inexpensive but quite effective as a disinfectant. It is readily available and pretty straightforward to use as well. When something has so many great qualities, it is only natural to ask the question, how is bleach made? Let us answer that question today.

Types of bleach

Before we delve into the details of bleach, it is important to understand that there are different types of bleaches out there. We will talk about the most commonly available bleach. Keep in mind that there has been an influx of eco-friendly bleaches of late. The composition of these bleaches can vary a lot and they usually contain some form of organic ingredient such as lemon juice, tea tree oil, thyme oil, etc. Read our article on “how to disinfect without bleach” to find more about bleaches you can make yourself. Today we will look at the most common type of bleach – industrial or chemical bleach.

So, what is bleach made up of?

Bleach works its wonders by releasing chlorine onto the surface which results in what is called disinfecting. Bleach is made up of a solution of Sodium hypochlorite. The stuff is widely manufactured which explains its affordability.

The raw components of bleach are chlorine gas, caustic soda, and water. The caustic soda solution is diluted to about 25% using water. The chlorine gas is then circulated through the caustic soda solution and this results in the formation of Sodium hypochlorite. Of course, there are finer elements to this entire process. This is just an overview.

The sodium hypochlorite thus obtained can contain different impurities and these are removed by employing a series of filters. It is also cooled to prevent any further reactions.

The sodium hypochlorite thus obtained is way too strong for use as bleach and is diluted to 5.25%. This is then poured into bottles and containers, sealed and shipped.

A reputed brand will use high-quality raw materials and will ensure that the manufacturing process is followed precisely. Finally, no corners will be cut when it comes to testing and quality control to ensure that the bleach you get is of a great standard.

There are other chemicals as well that have properties similar to that of sodium hypochlorite and can be technically used as bleach. However, these aren’t quite as suited to home use as sodium hypochlorite is.

It is also important to remember that contrary to popular belief, bleach won’t last forever. Always buy the most recently manufactured bleach that you can lay your hands on. It is also important to store bleach as per the manufacturer’s instructions. This is very important as it can mean all the difference between an effective disinfectant and a useless bottle of liquid. Finally, understand the risks associated with chemical bleach and never use it in a manner that can be harmful to you or those around you.

Also, a word of warning. Do not try to replicate the manufacturing process mentioned here at home. It releases a lot of heat as well as dangerous fumes.

One of the biggest ironies of human existence is the fact that things like food and other amenities that we wished didn’t expire do while things like plastic that we wished did not last forever actually don’t expire. Then there are some things that are a bit ambiguous when it comes to their operational life and one of them happens to be bleach. A common doubt among those who use bleach in their cleaning regime is does bleach expire? Let us find out.

Why it is hard to detect when bleach has gone bad?

Unlike other cleaning agents, bleach’s primary function as a disinfectant works at a microscopic level. This means that unless you examine the spot you just cleaned under a microscope, there is no way of knowing if it worked other than waiting to see if you get sick or not. That is why it is absolutely necessary to know the shelf life of bleach so that you can be confident that it had the desired effect on the germs rather than making your cleaning efforts a farce.

What is bleach made up of?

Before looking into the haste with which bleach goes bad, it is important to understand its composition. Most bleach that you can buy is a dilute solution of some form of hypochlorite. This solution releases chlorine which is what kills the germs. Ideally, the chlorine should only be released under specific conditions. However, a small amount of chlorine is constantly released by bleach which means that eventually, it will run out of chlorine.

Does bleach expire?

Yes, So it should be pretty clear to see that bleach indeed does expire. Once it can no longer produce chlorine on demand, it ceases to have any effect on the germs. At this point, using it as a disinfectant is as effective as using plain old water.

How long does bleach take to expire?

Now that we know of bleach’s propensity to eventually run out of juice, it is important to understand its viable lifetime so that you can be sure that the bleach you are using can still work effectively as a disinfectant.

There are multiple scenarios that can affect the expiry date of bleach. It has a shelf life of 6 months. What this means is that it won’t lose any of its strength for the first six months provided you do not open the bottle. The belief that bleach can last forever if kept in its original packaging is a myth. Post-six months, it will start degrading and lose 20% of its efficacy with each passing year. This means that an unopened bottle of bleach will be worse than useless in 5 years.

Say you open the bottle. Now its longevity depends on how you store it. If you keep it in the original bottle and screw the cap securely after every use while ensuring that no water or pretty much anything else gets into the bottle then you can expect a viable period close to an unopened bottle of bleach. It is also important to keep it in a cold and dry place away from direct sunlight. However, if you are careless with its storage then a bottle of bleach can be rendered totally useless in as little as two weeks.

Finally, we have to talk about dilution. For most practical cleaning purposes, you need to dilute bleach and some might feel that it is clever to dilute the entire bottle of bleach and storing it instead of diluting a part of it every time you need some. This is a big no-no. A diluted bleach solution of 10% (1 part bleach and 9 parts water) will degrade completely in a single day. Yes! You read that right. The more diluted the bleach is, the faster it will degrade. Therefore, always store it at its default concentration and dilute it only when needed.