What is the main use of edible magnesium chloride?

Magnesium chloride is common in industry. Because of its own characteristics, it has become the main material for absorbing moist gases or liquids. Perhaps some netizens who are more careful will find that many foods, such as soy products and brine, contain a certain amount of magnesium chloride, which means that it can still be eaten. So, what are the uses of magnesium chloride? Let me introduce it to you below.

Main uses of edible magnesium chloride:

The "Food Additives Usage Standard" stipulates that food-grade magnesium chloride can be used as a stabilizer or coagulant in bean products, but industrial products are not allowed to be used instead of food-grade products. Tofu made with brine (food-grade magnesium chloride aqueous solution) is more tender and delicious than tofu made with stone. It is also used as an additive for some foods at home and abroad.

status quo:

One is to use industrial magnesium chloride instead of edible magnesium chloride in the production of bean products to reduce costs;

The second method is to soak the fungus in industrial magnesium chloride. After soaking, the fungus will have large mushrooms, thick leaves, good sensory perception, and its weight can increase by 2 to 3 times. The color and smell of soy products produced using industrial magnesium chloride as a coagulant are not significantly different from those of qualified products, making them difficult to identify.

Preparation method

1. The brine, a by-product of seawater salt production, is concentrated into a carnallite (KCl·MgCl·6H2O) solution, cooled to remove potassium chloride, and then concentrated, filtered, cooled, and crystallized to obtain the solution.

It is obtained by dissolving and replacing magnesium oxide or magnesium carbonate with hydrochloric acid. Anhydrous magnesium chloride is obtained by heating ammonium magnesium chloride to remove ammonia.

2. Anhydrous magnesium chloride can be prepared by dehydrating a mixture of ammonium chloride and magnesium chloride hexahydrate, or a double salt of ammonium chloride and magnesium chloride hexahydrate in a hydrogen chloride gas stream.

Dissolve equimolar amounts of MgCl2·6H2O and NH4Cl in water, crystallize them in the form of a double salt in an aqueous solution at a temperature slightly above 50°C, and separate them from the mother liquor while maintaining the original temperature. Recrystallization was performed again.

After slightly drying, put it into a quartz boat while hot, place the boat in a quartz tube for dehydration, pass dry hydrogen chloride gas, and heat to 100℃ for dehydration for 3h, then heat to 250℃ for 1h, and then heat to 400℃ for 1h. Finally, melt it in a short time, and pass CO2 gas to expel HCl gas. The obtained anhydrous magnesium chloride can be stored in a desiccant containing phosphorus pentoxide. The double salt NH4Cl·MgCl2·6H2O can also be placed in a vacuum furnace and heated to 200°C under reduced pressure for dehydration, so that the amount of hydrogen chloride gas used can be reduced. The brine, a by-product of seawater salt production, is concentrated into a carnallite (KCl·MgCl2·5H2O) solution, cooled to remove potassium chloride, and then concentrated, filtered, cooled, and crystallized to obtain the solution. It is obtained by dissolving and replacing magnesium oxide or magnesium carbonate with hydrochloric acid. Anhydrous magnesium chloride is obtained by heating ammonium magnesium chloride to remove ammonia.