Sodium molybdate is found in a lot of commercial and industrial products, as well as some agricultural products and medicines. In this blog from Bisley, we’ll explore products that sodium molybdate dihydrate is often used in, and discuss how they are used.
Sodium Molybdate Uses
1. Agricultural Fertilizers & Sprays
The most common use for sodium molybdate dihydrate is in fertilizer. It’s estimated that the agricultural industry uses in excess of 1 million pounds per year. It’s an ideal choice for agriculture because it’s highly water-soluble.
This means that when applied to fields as a spray or solid fertilizer, the chemical quickly reacts with water to become soluble, soak into the field, and deliver molybdenum into the soil. This helps minimize runoff and fertilizer waste, as well.
Because it helps with nitrogen uptake, it’s used to help with nitrogen-fixing when growing plants like beans, alfalfa, lentils, peanuts, and other legumes.
2. Hydroponic Fertilizer
Plants grown using a hydroponic method can also benefit from the water solubility of sodium molybdate dihydrate. Since this method uses an inert substrate instead of soil, it’s very important to use fertilizer formulations that are highly soluble in water.
For this reason, sodium molybdate and other chemicals are a common ingredient in commercial-available hydroponic fertilizer products. Thanks to its ability to quickly dissolve in water, sodium molybdate offers superior growth and performance in a wide variety of hydroponic plants.
3. Animal Feed
In some countries, sodium molybdate is a common additive in animal feed to supplement molybdenum in animals and to ensure proper nutrition for livestock.
Due to its interactions with copper, animal feed must be supplemented with care, because excessive molybdenum can cause copper deficiency due to its ability to react with copper. However, this reaction with copper can be very useful for treating herds of animals that are suffering from acute copper toxicity.
Additional sodium molybdate can be added to help control copper levels in sheep and cows that have too much copper in their systems due to improper feed formulations, eating plans contaminated by copper-based pesticides, or eating forage that’s deficient in molybdenum.
This can dramatically improve health outcomes and prevent further deaths and deterioration in animals with high copper levels.
4. Nutritional Supplements
Molybdenum is an important micronutrient for humans, and while it’s found in many natural foods like legumes, potatoes, beef, spinach, tuna, and yogurt, this is not always the case. Molybdenum deficiency is most common in people being fed intravenously.
To combat this, medical supplements are available with molybdenum such as sodium molybdate to their multivitamins. Some over-the-counter nutritional supplements containing molybdenum are also available.
5. Corrosion Inhibitors For Industrial Systems
In many industrial cooling systems and water treatment plants, sodium molybdate is added to water to help prevent corrosion. It’s used in open and closed recirculating cooling systems, and is often combined with inorganic and organic phosphates to further inhibit corrosion in industrial systems.
It offers far superior performance compared to other corrosion inhibitors like sodium nitrite. 50-100 ppm of sodium molybdate provides similar performance as 800+ ppm of sodium nitrate, so this can help reduce overall costs and additives in water systems.
Need A Supplier Of Sodium Molybdate? Contact Bisley Today
At Bisley, we’re trusted as a top supplier of industrial chemicals in Australia, and we offer sodium molybdate and a wide variety of other chemical compounds for commercial and industrial use. To learn more and get more information about what we have to offer, contact Bisley online today.