Does Your Water Need Treatment?

Ensuring safe, drinkable water is a key part of any business. Whether you’re in health care, personal care, or the food industry, it’s imperative that your water is free from contamination. Bell Chem, a water treatment chemical supplier, goes through the six signs that your water may be contaminated.  

Chlorine
The “swimming pool smell” associated with chlorine is a clear indication you need a filtration system for your water. For the food industry, your baked goods’ appearance can indicate an excess of chlorine. Chlorine kills yeast, so breads and other baked goods containing yeast will not rise if chlorine is present in high amounts.  

Escherichia Coli (E. Coli)
Widespread illness due to this bacteria in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000 was due to surface water containing coliform bacteria seeping into well water. More than 2,000 cases of illness were reported. E. coli has no odor, taste, or visible change in water appearance. A water quality report from a water treatment plant will show if your water is contaminated.

Minerals
Water that appears cloudy or foamy may have a high mineral content or turbulent water. Minerals may be present in the water if the cloudiness settles after sitting a while. If the water remains cloudy, bacteria or methane gas may be contaminating the water. Methane is flammable and can possibly cause asphyxiation. 

Oil or Gas
A strong odor of gas can indicate your water is contaminated with a semi-volatile compound such as gasoline.  

Scale and Sediment
If your normally high pressure suddenly decreases, you may have a buildup of scale or sediment along the inside of your pipes. Corrosion allows scales to adhere, which build up over time and diminish the diameter of the pipes. Consider purchasing new pipes for your business.

Sulfur
Smelling “rotten eggs” when you turn on the faucet points to sulfur. Although it smells, it is generally regarded as non-harmful.

Bell Chem is a water treatment chemical supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando). With hundreds of products stocked in our 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, you can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us a message.

Disposing of Hazardous Waste

Businesses utilizing hazardous chemicals often find that after they’ve been used, disposing of these dangerous chemicals can be a challenge. Bell Chem, a water treatment chemical supplier, can help. Before finding out how to dispose of waste, it is important to understand what constitutes as hazardous waste.

Is It Hazardous Waste?
If the chemical is harmful to humans or the environment, it is considered hazardous waste. Hazardous materials may be in liquid, solid, gas, or plasma form. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates only solid hazardous waste. To determine if your waste is considered hazardous, use the following EPA guidelines.

Identify
Hazardous materials are often the by-product of hazardous ingredients or chemicals. Many hazardous solids are subject to RCRA Subtitle C regulation and have stringent guidelines for disposal. Look for “hazardous” labels on containers when they are delivered, and determine in which manner they may be harmful. By-products must be placed in an appropriate container with “hazardous waste” written on it. A description of the hazards caused by the material is necessary, along with the date the material was collected. Warning labels with RCRA information, the National Fire Protection Association, Department of Transportation hazard communication, or OSHA hazard statements or pictograms are all acceptable.

Count
The accumulation of each type of solid waste should be weighed and categorized into Large-, Small-, or Very Small Quantity Generators. Your business will fall into one of these categories determined by the monthly amount of weight amassed.

Notify
Large- and Small Quantity Generators must contact the EPA regarding all hazardous waste activities.

Manage
Determine if your hazardous waste material can be recycled, treated, distilled, evaporated, neutralized, diluted, flushed, or heated. These processes, if followed using OSHA standards or the like, can drastically reduce the amount of accumulated waste.  

Transport
A shipping manifest must be printed to transport hazardous waste to a disposal facility, or a landfill if the material has been neutralized.

Proper removal of hazardous waste from your business is imperative. The water treatment chemical supplier company, Bell Chem, wants your employees to be safe in and around these materials. Based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) Bell Chem has hundreds of products stocked in our 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.

Restaurant Spotlight: Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting Products

All restaurants must maintain health and cleanliness standards, and it can be a time-consuming task to ensure these standards. The Daytona Beach ingredient supplier, Bell Chem, wants to ease your workload by providing the perfect chemicals in the correct form to keep your business operating smoothly. Read below for ideas on how to clean and sanitize your restaurant.

Is It Safe?
Using harsh chemicals around food prep surfaces may contaminate the food or endanger customers. Read labels carefully to determine if the cleaner you are spraying is safe to use around foods; labels include “mild” or “food safe” for these chemicals.

Should I Buy Powder, Tablet, Gel, or Liquid?
Powders are ideal for pre-treating stained areas. They can also be measured precisely since they are a dry ingredient. Tablets are pre-measured powders in a cake form that can save time and produce less waste. Gels will adhere to uneven or vertical surfaces. Liquids can be delivered via spray bottle or diluted to clean surfaces and equipment.

How Do “All Purpose” Cleaning Products Compare?
All-purpose cleaners are generally middle-of-the-road products within a narrow pH range that clean most surfaces relatively well. However, some restaurant areas, such as deep fryers, grills, or soft-serve yogurt machines, require more specific products to counter the microorganisms that thrive in areas containing food particles. Products specifically designed to clean one kitchen appliance generally require less time and elbow grease to clean, and remove more grease, oil, dirt, and grime than all-purpose cleaners.

Are Sanitizers and Disinfectants the Same?
In a word, no. After a surface is cleaned, a sanitizer or disinfectant is utilized to remove pathogens. Sanitizers destroy most bacteria whereas disinfectants destroy most bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Sanitize areas that come in contact with food, and disinfect areas to remove all pathogens. Rinse thoroughly after using disinfectants near food prep areas. Disinfectants are ideal to clean floors, bathrooms, and seating areas.

Keep your business and employees healthy with the perfect products from theDaytona Beach ingredient supplierBell Chem. Based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) Bell Chem has hundreds of products stocked in our 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.

What We Provide: Sanitation

Bell Chem’s massive warehouse has an abundance of ingredients and chemicals perfect for your business. As a sanitation ingredient supplier, Bell Chem strives to provide the purest ingredients and chemicals to meet your company’s specific needs. Below is an array of categories within Bell Chem’s sanitation inventory.

Acid Detergents
An acid detergent cleans and kills microbes that cannot withstand acidic conditions. Acid detergents are broken into inorganic (strong, extremely corrosive) and organic (weaker, less corrosive) detergents that work to lift grease, oil, mineral deposits, and hard water deposits from mechanical and flat surfaces.

Alkaline Cleaners
Alkaline cleaners combine alkaline salts, wetting agents, and sequestrants. Most detergents are traditionally alkaline since they easily compound fats and oils into soaps while they dissolve proteins. Strong alkaline cleaners tackle caked-on and dried products. Food processing and food service industries use alkaline cleaners ideal to remove surface matter before disinfecting.

Chlorinated Detergents
Detergents cleanse surfaces and remove by-products and deposits. Adding chlorine disinfects surfaces as they are cleaned. Chlorine also acts as a whitening agent to remove proteins, soil, tannin, foods, and other stains. Chlorinated detergents are widely used in the food and beverage industries, as well as for painting and power washing.  

Conveyor and Chain Lubricants
As machinery moves, the gears and parts grind against one another and cause friction. Friction generates heat, as it deters parts from easily sliding across one another. Adding a lubricant facilitates gear and chain operation and extends the life of your machinery.

Foaming Cleaners
Sometimes particulate matter adheres to surfaces not suited for a traditional cleaner. Hard-to-reach surfaces and vertical walls call for a cleaner that maintains a thick lather to penetrate grime. Foaming cleaners are also ideal for horizontal surfaces requiring more than a quick cleaning. By maintaining a foamy film, the cleaner works on ink, oil, food, soil, or other stains to quickly remove them.

General Purpose Cleaners
General purpose cleaners are intended to work on most surfaces to keep plastic, metal, wood, and other areas free of food, dirt, and grime.

Sanitizers
Sanitizing reduces bacterial counts on cleaned surfaces by 99.9%. When coupled with cleaning, sanitizing helps to maintain clean and healthy work surfaces.

Keep your business and employees healthy with products from the sanitation ingredient supplier Bell Chem. Based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) Bell Chem has hundreds of products stocked in our 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.

The Uses of Mineral Spirits

Mineral spirits have many aliases, such as mineral turpentine, petroleum spirits, solvent naphtha, white spirits, or, as many homeowners may call them, paint thinners. The Florida chemical supplier, Bell Chem, offers mineral spirits that combine an array of hydrocarbons to give you different grades of the best product available. Take a look at some of the products we offer: 

• Degreaser: Used on machinery, metal, and automobiles, mineral spirits are strong degreasing agents. Degreasers allow oil and grease to be quickly and easily lifted from metal surfaces and washed away.

• Solvent: Painters use mineral spirits to remove paint from recently painted surfaces and to clean their brushes. Even oil-based paints are lifted from brushes with mineral spirits. Unlike turpentine, which may cause respiratory problems if inhaled frequently, mineral spirits are much less harmful, even when used indoors frequently. Mineral spirits are the most commonly used solvent in the painting industry. Aerosols, asphalt products, lacquers, shellacs, and varnishes utilize mineral spirits as a solvent.

• Cleaner: Tools and metal covered in layers of grime, dirt, and even old paint are quickly cleaned with mineral spirits. Wood furniture with a lacquer or varnish finish can be cleaned and buffed with just a small application. Mineral spirits also remove light scratches and skid marks from non-porous surfaces.

• Adhesive and resin remover: Glass products with any form of adhesive can be easily cleaned as the adhesive is dissolved by mineral spirits. 

Bell Chem, Florida's chemical supplier, is based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products, including different grades of mineral spirits, stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.

How Do Alkaline Cleaners Work?

You have a stain on your carpet. You go to the store, confident that finding the right cleaner will be a cakewalk — when suddenly you're met with aisle upon aisle of cleaning products. If picking out the right cleaner for your own home is difficult, picking out the correct cleaner for your business can only be harder. How can you determine which is the correct cleaner for your business’s needs? While many businesses rely on chlorinated cleaners, they are often too corrosive and harmful. Alkaline cleaners, on the other hand, are blended with a variety of other chemicals to clean, remove, neutralize, saponify, and/or sequester dirt and grime. The benefits of Orlando ingredient supplier Bell Chem’s alkaline cleaners are their cost, ease of disposal, and overall efficiency in cleaning a variety of products and surfaces.

Surfactants
Removing contaminants from metal surfaces keeps equipment running smoothly and efficiently. Alkaline cleaners quickly wash away any grime and grit from machine parts, especially when heat acts as a catalyst. Working double-duty, surfactant molecules have one hydrophilic end and one hydrophobic end. This chemical design creates an emulsion of water and oil. As the two separate, the oil is effortlessly washed away.

Alkaline Salts
Working as alkaline building blocks, many cleaners blend carbonates, caustic soda or caustic potash, phosphates, or silicates into their formulas to raise the pH level of the cleaner. Because each of these alkaline salts affects pH differently, their uses vary.

• Caustic alkaline salts: Caustic alkaline salts saponify fats and disperse oils as they neutralize acidic contaminants. With an average pH of 13, they are highly alkaline. Corrosion protectants, rust inhibitors, and waxes benefit from the addition of caustic alkaline salts to work rapidly.

• Silicates: Silicates offer medium alkalinity (pH 11-12.5) as they react much like a detergent, and are effective on soft metals.

• Phosphates: Phosphates range from 9.5 to 11.5 on the pH scale. Their lower pH creates a better acting detergent as they sequester water ions that normally interfere with cleaning.

• Carbonates: These are considered mild alkaline cleaners with a small pH range of 9 to 9.5. Carbonates are most often used as buffers or neutralizers for acidic contaminants. Water-soluble coolants are easily removed with carbonates. 

Bell Chem, Orlando’s ingredient supplier, is based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including a wide array of alkaline cleaners. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355).

Industry Uses for Erythritol

Erythritol is a low-calorie sweetener created through fermentation of corn or wheat starch. Compared to sugar, erythritol is not as sweet, measuring approximately 65% of the sweetness of table sugar. Packaged as a white, crystalline powder, erythritol is a natural sugar alcohol. Bell Chem, the Orlando food ingredient Supplier, has erythritol available to ship to our customers worldwide.

Sugar alcohols, or polyols, occur naturally in mushrooms, grapes, and fermented foods. Chemically, erythritol is shaped differently than sucrose and is not as readily absorbed into cells. In fact, more than 90% of consumed erythritol is excreted from the body without being utilized, making it an ideal additive for low-calorie foods. Those with diabetes mellitus are able to eat foods containing erythritol without a noticeable increase in blood glucose levels, due to its chemical makeup differing from sucrose.

Food Industry
Erythritol is routinely used to sweeten foods and beverages from frozen treats to sports drinks. Chewing gum, chocolate, hard candy, frozen dairy products, and fresh dairy items such as yogurt, sauces and jellies may all contain erythritol. It’s often used in beverages to reduce calories while retaining flavor. Erythritol can be found in flavored water, sports drinks, diet soft drinks, and smoothies.

Pharmaceuticals, Health, and Personal Care
The health industry finds erythritol a valuable additive for toothpaste and mouth rinses since it prevents bacterial growth. The root of tooth decay is caused by bacteria, which can form a biofilm on teeth. By adding erythritol to products, you get a sweet flavor with the power to delay cavity growth. Erythritol also has the distinction of not forming plaque as quickly as any other sweeteners, making it dentists’ top choice for periodontal therapy.

Erythritol is also utilized in the pharmaceutical and personal care industries. The pharmaceutical industry utilizes erythritol in excipients and syrups, chewable tablets, lozenges, and oral liquids. The personal care industry, on the other hand, takes full advantage of erythritol by adding it as an ingredient in deodorant, skin care products, bar and soft soaps, and bath products.

Bell Chem is the Orlando food ingredient Supplierbased in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products, including erythritol, stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by contacting us online.

What is Dicalite?

Diatomaceous earth’s high functionality is due to the exoskeletons of prehistoric animals. Sound bizarre? Diatoms are tiny, silicon-based animals with outer skeletons of varying intricate designs. These tough outer coverings are all that remain of prehistoric sea life. When these remains gather in high quantities, they can be mined as diatomaceous earth. Why earth? Because, like diatoms, the earth is made of a large amount of silica. The removal of diatoms from the ground solidified the name of this extremely useful product. Bell Chem proudly stocks dicalite products that range in abrasiveness depending on the size and structure of the diatoms. Below are a few uses of water treatment chemicals supplier Bell Chem’s variety of dicalite diatomaceous earth inventory.

Diatomaceous earth heated to 1500℉ clusters the fine diatom exoskeletons together. This creates products known as “calcined” and offers a greater range of filtration permeabilities. When diatomaceous earth is heated above 1500℉, the calcified exoskeletons clump together, which transforms the normally fine grains into more varied sizes. Flux calcination changes the filtration even further by increasing the calcification agglomeration rate, thus opening the range of permeabilities. The finer the granulation, the slower the filtration rate.

• As an absorbent, dicalite is ideal for cleaning oil spills or, on a much smaller scale, for removing oil from the skin as an ingredient in cosmetics. Diatomaceous earth is more absorbent than any other commonly used material, with the ability to hold 145% of its weight in oil.

• As a natural abrasive, dicalite can be used in a range of products from toothpaste to metal polishes. Composed of silica, it has no negative side effects on the environment or the human body. Superfine granulated dicalite is ideal for facial scrubs, while a coarser grain works to scrub countertops and dinnerware.

• Anyone with animals will find dicalite a fantastic, all-purpose product. Sprinkle it in small animal pens as a natural insecticide: the insects ingest the pointed shells, which tears apart their digestive systems. Use it in feed to stop clumping and remove moisture, which gives feed a longer shelf life. 

Dicalite is a pure, natural product that contains no chemicals and is safe to use. Bell Chem carries Dicalite UF and Speed Flow for fine filtration, Dicalite 341 Flux-Calcined and Speedplus for medium filtration, and Dicalite 2500 Flux-Calcined and Dicalite 4200 Flux-Calcined for coarse filtration. Bell Chem is a water treatment chemical supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Learn more about Bell Chem’s Dicalite products by calling 407-339-BELL (2355) to speak with one of our knowledgeable representatives.

What We Provide: Technical Grade & Water Treatment

Water comes out of the faucet clean and clear, just like it looks in a stream. However, in order to be safe for consumption, it must be treated by filtration and chemical processes. Below are the water treatment chemicals that Bell Chem offers.

Algaecides, Biocides, and Disinfectants
Though the chemical formulae may differ depending on their use, algaecides, biocides, and disinfectants all kill dangerous microorganisms. Copper sulfate and sodium bromide crystals successfully destroy algae, while Bell Chem’s inventory of chlorinated detergents excel as biocide agents.

Antifoams
Chemical reactions from water purification cause gas bubbles as a by-product. As liquid films coat the bubbles, larger and larger masses occur, effectively blocking production. Silicone in an oil dispersant breaks apart that foam. Bell Chem’s stock of 19 varieties of silica are available in powder form or as an emulsion.

Coagulants
Within a water treatment system, aluminum is a choice coagulant because of its ability to snap up loose ions. Depending on usage, aluminum chloride, aluminum oxide, or aluminum sulfate may be necessary.

Corrosion Inhibitors
Corrosion can cause failure of machinery, deposition in water, and overall loss of time and money. Inhibitors coat metal surfaces to protect clean metal or disable the properties of corroded metals. Calcium hypochlorite scale inhibitor and cyclohexylamine work in two distinct manners to inhibit corrosion.

Flocculants
Ionized polymer flocculants act to coagulate suspended solids in water. The sheer weight of the particles is then great enough to cause them to sink, or their size leads them to be caught in filters. Alum and aluminum sulfate are both effective flocculants.

Neutralizing Agents and pH Adjusters
Controlling the pH balance is imperative for a clean running system. Sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, hydrated lime, calcium carbonate, and hydrochloric acid are all prime examples of neutralizers. Hydrogen chloride adjusts pH levels to prevent lead contamination and corrosion.

Oxidizers
To quell biological and chemical oxygen demand, oxidizers convert available oxygen to carbon dioxide and water. Bell Chem’s two strengths of hydrogen peroxide work well as oxidizers, corrosion controllers, and odor deterrents.

Oxygen Scavengers
Working similarly to oxidizers, scavengers prevent oxygen from interrupting oxidation reactions. While non-volatile sodium sulfite and volatile methyl ethyl ketone are both oxygen scavengers, their reactions differ significantly.

Resin Cleaners
The chemical reactions causing ion exchange have potential problematic by-products that cause resins to become contaminated. Bell Chem stocks citric acid, sodium chloride, and potassium chloride to remedy this situation.

Scale Inhibitors
Temperature increases cause many soluble solids to float to the surface of the water. Bell Chem’s phosphoric acid works as a great scale inhibitor.

Bell Chem is a water treatment chemicals supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in their 50,000+ square-foot warehouse. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.

Offering Kosher Products

The Jacksonville ingredient supplier, Bell Chem, carries an abundance of kosher products for its customers. Because the products we provide are not as neatly divided into the three main categories of kosher foods — dairy, meat, and pareve — they are able to be utilized with any foods under these three headings.

Kosher foods must meet stringent guidelines set forth in the Torah, or the first five books in the Pentateuch (Hebrew scriptures). These laws of God were revealed to Moses and are followed by those of the Jewish faith.

Many of Bell Chem’s products are easily identified as kosher as they are plant-based. Any animal-based products must be labeled as kosher before being added to kosher foods. If a non-kosher ingredient is used within an otherwise kosher meal, the entire meal then becomes non-kosher.

While most consumers think of kosher products as additives in kitchen prep, every step of the process of creating a kosher meal is included, from fertilizing the grass cows eat to the feed chickens consume. Knowing this, Bell Chem’s warehouse contains kosher fertilizers and feed additives that meet Torah guidelines. Likewise, any chemicals and ingredients used for cleaning and food preparation must also be kosher. Lastly, the largest category by far is food ingredients.

 Bell Chem carries products considered pareve, or neutral, meaning they do not contain meat or dairy products. However, unless these products are manufactured in a pareve facility, they may not carry a label marking them as pareve since the facility may also process meat or dairy products. Most, but not all, pareve products are considered vegetarian; exceptions include products containing oils from kosher fish. 

Pharmaceutical ingredients required for medications are all considered pareve since they are necessary for life; likewise, these products are generally in capsule or tablet form and are not actively chewed. Because they pass through the mouth without incident, they are considered kosher.

Bell Chem is the Jacksonville ingredient supplier based in Longwood, FL (just north of Orlando) with hundreds of products stocked in our 50,000+ square-foot warehouse, including dozens of kosher products. You can expect the highest quality products, expedited shipping options for maximum efficiency, and unrivaled personalized customer service. Let our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives and accounting staff personalize all your needs by either calling 407-339-BELL (2355) or by sending us an online message.