Sud-Chemie Bentonite Desiccants

Süd-Chemie Performance Packaging, a business unit of Süd-Chemie Group (Munich), has expanded its line of bentonite desiccants to help customers offset increased silica gel costs as well as support sustainable packaging programs.

Süd-Chemie has made available to packagers of sensitive pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, electronic and semiconductor packaging a wider range of its Desi Pak® packets and bags and Desi Can® canisters. A natural chemically-inert montmorillonite clay, Bentonite's layered structure adsorbs moisture by attracting and binding water molecules to its vast inner and outer surface area. Bentonite desiccants offer a higher adsorption capacity than silica gel in the most relevant package environments, and are less costly than comparable silica gel based desiccant products.

Many companies are aggressively pursuing sustainable packaging programs and looking for ways to reduce the overall environmental impact of products in their supply chains. The production of bentonite has a much lower environmental impact than silica gel. Unlike silica gel production that requires large amounts of energy, water and harsh chemicals, such as sulfuric acid, bentonite desiccants utilize less energy and no chemicals during processing. Most silica gel desiccants are shipped from China, adding to an already significant carbon footprint. Bentonite used in US production is shipped from the company's own deposits in Arizona to its nearby production site in New Mexico where it is activated via a simple drying process and used to produce desiccant products.

"We can offer our customers an environmentally friendly packaging component, while simultaneous saving them money," said Mark Florez, Süd-Chemie global marketing manager. "It is our goal to provide our customers with high performance products that not only support their sustainable packaging programs, but also combat today's inflationary pricing for packaging materials."

Most Desi Pak products will be printed in green to differentiate them from our other desiccant products. Bentonite desiccants have long been used in demanding packaging applications with rigorous requirements for performance and quality such as pharmaceutical and semiconductor packaging. Most products are packaged in package environments with humidity levels well below 30 percent relative humidity, where bentonite desiccants offer equal or higher adsorption capacities than silica gel desiccants. Bentonite desiccants comply with all relevant FDA and US Pharmacopeia requirements for use in food and drug applications. Süd-Chemie works closely with customers via its Desiccant Efficiency System Integration (DESI) program to calculate the amount of desiccant needed in particular applications as well as provides guidance to customers to facilitate the transition from silica gel to bentonite.