Calcium Hypochlorite

Calcium hypochlorite is an inorganic compound of a mixture of lime and calcium chloride marketed as chlorine powder, dry chlorine pellet or chlorinating pellets or tablets. It is also called bleach powder for water treatment and as a bleaching agent. This compound is relatively stable and has greater available chlorine (between 62-70% chlorine) than Sodium Hypochlorite (liquid bleach).

It is a white solid, although commercial samples appear yellow. It strongly smells of chlorine, owing to its slow decomposition in moist air. It is not highly soluble in water and is more preferably used in soft to medium-hard water. It has two forms: dry and hydrated.

Calcium hypochlorite is commonly used to sanitize public swimming pools, water well and disinfect drinking water. In swimming pool, it is often mixed with cyanuric acid stabilizers and anti-scaling agents (in order to reduce the loss of chlorine from ultraviolet radiation and to prevent calcium hardening).

Calcium hypochlorite is used in kitchens to disinfect surfaces and equipment. Other common uses include bathroom cleansers, household disinfectant sprays, algaecides, herbicides and laundry detergents.

It is a general oxidizing agent and therefore finds some use in organic chemistry. For instance the compound is used to cleave glycols and keto acids to yield fragmented aldehydes or carboxylic acids. Calcium hypochlorite can also be used in the haloform reaction to manufacture chloroform.

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