Re-Dissolving Sodium Silicate

This might help...it seems to be water soluble...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate

Good link.

Quoting from that link for the OP:-

Liquid phase[

A mixture of caustic soda, quartz sand, and water is prepared in a mixing tank, then fed into a reactor, where steam is introduced. The reaction is
n SiO₂ + 2 NaOH → Na₂O•nSiO₂ + H₂O

It looks as though you need to warm it and possibly agitate it.....even bubbling steam through it may help.

I have a feeling it may take some time......

"You may try adding a little heating together with water to inhibit faster mixture of the two."

To "inhibit faster mixture"? I think you mean "encourage" not inhibit.

"Adding up water" ?

"Adding a little heating" ?

This is the same mechanism that Na2SiO3 manifests itself as an adhesive (water glass). If there is a surface of silicate (like glass), that is what the sodium silicate molecules are drawn to.

The bottle is plastic.

Bisaya ka Sir?

If there's any way to loosen it, break it up and get it out of the bottle and then grind it to a fine powder. You will find that is much easier to redissolve- also, I would suggest WARM water, not hot as my own experiences with metasilicates have shown that to reduce coagulation issues.

Finally, if you add alkali (powdered drain cleaner?) to the solution that will likely help but may wreck if for your planned usage!

My guess is that this is not simply a solid hydrate that just needs to be redissolved. It should be pretty easy to check though. Strain the solid material and mix with warm water. If it is sodium silicate, it will be readily soluble.

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More likely is that only a small portion of the soluble material will dissolve easily in water. The remainder is silica and will require the addition of a strong base, like NaOH, to go back into solution.

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Silica would be precipitated if the solution were acidified, possibly by contact with atmospheric CO2.

The picture I'm getting is a procedure like the following:

Add water to the top of the bottle and seal. Wait a while.

Add caustic soda and seal. Wait a while.

--?Is there something I can add to absorb carbon dioxide, to prevent the caustic soda from becoming carbonate?

If you are adding more caustic, just keep the bottle closed. The amount of CO2 absorbed will be minimal.

Rather than add to the top of the bottle, strain/filter the precipitate to separate. Seal the filtered water glass as air tight as reasonable. Attempt to recover what you can just from the solids that were removed. This way the bulk is not affected by your additions/dilutions/experiments.

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You could store it under a blanket of dry n2 or something similar. Water glass is very inexpensive though. I doubt much expense for blanketing/protecting could be recouped in water glass saved. If you have a cheap ready source of n2 or argon, you could purge the top with a little before sealing the lid tight...and perhaps taping. Otherwise just make the container as airtight as possible and don't whisper many secrets into the bottle while it is open.

Yike! Way beyond my capability or equipment. For one thing, I don't know what materials - other than the plastic bottle it came it - it's compatible with. Right now I hope that whatever I do will happen in the original bottle.

An additional plastic bottle is way beyond you equipment or capability? Attempt to match the type of plastic. Use appearance and physical traits as well as any recycling code. At worst you lose the small portion that was precipitated. Why dilute or alter the entire batch?

Chemical Selected: Sodium SilicateShop this chemical

We don't even know if pure water was used in the initial production of the water glass. We also do not know if the plastic bottle is permeable to carbon dioxide, or if polycarbonate, and the bottle has reacted with the strongly alkaline solution.

Suggestion (consensus): Decant the liquid portion, and see if that is fit for making your silicate based adhesive. If not, dispose of the whole material according to local ordinances, and start over. No need to pour good money on top of bad.

Try the KISS approach.

Put some water in the jug and see what happens.

Raise the temperature.

Good complete questions get good clear and complete answers. One difficulty is you don't mention what type or grade of Sodium Silicate/Water Glass you have. There are numerous types, too many to list all here, and different forms. Add to that different dilutions that can be made with them and there is a great multitude of possibilities.

Crystalline silicates, such as one of the most popular formulations Sodium Metasilicate, are readily soluble in water but amorphous silicates are only slightly soluble in water http://www.pqcorp.com/Portals/1/docs/Metso%20Sodium%20Metasilicate,%202009.pdf

With time many of the crystalline compounds will begin to partially solidify.

http://pqcorp.com/Portals/1/lit/SodiumSilicates.pdf

http://www.solublesilicates.eu/docs/solsil_broch_1302.pdf The fact that you purchased this for foam experiments points to Sodium Metasilicate. To determine the best way to modify your material is by experimentation with small quantities. Take three small samples to use. In the first one, simply agitate/stir it to see if that dissolves the solid. In the second sample do the same agitation but add about 5% of water. In the third, do the same agitation and add a 20% solution of Sodium Hydroxide. Agitate them for the same length of time and see which worked best.

There are several other things that indicate it is Sodium Metasilicate. It originates as a solid and then is diluted with either water or other chemicals to form a liquid. The liquids have a variety of uses. Industrial cleaning agents for very hard to clean things.

As a well drilling mud (fluids) enhancer. http://www.pqcorp.com/portals/1/lit/bulletin_35-02.pdf

As a commercial replacement for Phosphates in strong soaps or household clothing soaps. This replaced the phosphates in soaps that were banned in the 70's and 80's (TSP, Tri-sodium phosphate). It has adhesive properties and is the material used to glue the wavy center ply of laminated cardboard (corrugated cardboard) to the outside surfaces.. In a very thick paste it can be used as a muffler or exhaust pipe caulking or glue. It is also used as a pH adjuster (increase) and defoamer is casein based adhesives (milk solids based). Cooling system "stop leak" for the cooling system of engines. There are too numerous uses for this group of chemicals. It is a large group and exponential possibilities of uses for them.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I gave you the information that I had. Only the strength of the solution was marked.

You gave what you could so the answers are based on that. In general, when posters don't or can't give good and complete questions, the answers are comparable to what information was given. First sentence was not to be critical. Was only included to remind persons that better and complete questions (if possible) will get the most accurate and best answers. Sort of: "You get what you give".

As you can see from the variety of the answers and the differentness of them, what you gave generated a wide variety of answers. Some know a lot about the subject and some don't know much. For ten years we used it as one of many ingredients in casein based adhesives. You become very familiar, sometimes too familiar, with a product that way.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Throw the darn thing out and start over.

A gallon only costs $37.95 http://www.sciencecompany.com/Sodium-Silicate-Solution-1-gal-P16464C670.aspx The Science Company

or $15.26 CQ Concepts http://cqconcepts.com/chem_sodiumsilicate.php

or for lab grade-- 40^o-42^o be $113.03 Thermo Fisher https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/sodium-silicate-solution-40-42-be-technical-fisher-chemical-2/p-214445

It will be more costly for materials and time to try and rejuvenate the stuff you have. It will be especially costly if your attempts fail and you have to buy new material anyhow.

Good Luck, Old Salt

By the time it gets here (southern Philippines) it is a good deal more expensive, and I will have waited two or three months for it. There is strong incentive to make what I have already usable. Added distilled water so far. No change. Will get caustic soda next.

Have you tried some alternate suppliers? Sodium meta-silicate is used in many other products. Perhaps one of the local users of it would sell you a small quantity (less than a 5 gal pail or a 55 gal drum). Detergent manufacturers and industrial cleaner manufactures use it in their products. We once purchased a concrete floor cleaner that went down a light green and turned clear when the concentration of it was no longer strong enough to clean. It was a powder that was applied to a wet floor. Manufactured by ZEP. We were cleaning up some nasty Mercury compounds and it always worked.

Another source would be a hardware store. It is available as a replacement for Tri-Sodium Phosphate, TSP, another strong cleanser. That caused problems with water pollutions. TSP was real nasty and a mean looking green with algae. I buy Sodium Meta-silicate for my personal use at a local hardware, not the big orange or blue boxes.

Also try a paint supply store. It is use for cleaning prior to painting.

Hope you find some. It still stands that it will be more expensive if you can't get useful and accurate analyticals from your sample.

Good Luck, Old Salt