Sodium Bromide Supplier South Africa

What Is Sodium Bromide?

Sodium bromide (NaBr) is an inorganic sodium halide salt — a white crystalline solid that is highly soluble in water. It is the primary sodium salt of hydrobromic acid and is commercially important across water treatment, pharmaceutical, photography, and oilfield applications. In water treatment, sodium bromide is used in two-part activated bromide biocide systems — NaBr is combined with an oxidant (sodium hypochlorite, chlorine gas, or hydrogen peroxide) to generate hypobromous acid (HOBr) in situ for biocidal activity in cooling water and swimming pool systems.

Activated Bromide Cooling Water Biocide Systems

The two-part activated bromide system provides an alternative to stabilised chlorine for cooling tower and industrial water biocide treatment. In the activation reaction, NaBr + NaOCl (or Cl₂) → HOBr + NaCl — the hypobromous acid formed is the active biocide species. Activated HOBr has superior biocidal efficacy over chlorine at elevated pH (7.5–9.0) typical of cooling water circuits, as HOBr (pKa ~8.7) remains in its protonated, active form at a pH range where HOCl is mostly converted to the much less active hypochlorite ion (OCl⁻, pKa ~7.5). Sodium bromide is dosed as a solution into the cooling water ahead of the oxidant injection point, activating to produce biocidal HOBr within seconds.

Pharmaceutical and Other Applications

In pharmaceutical manufacturing, sodium bromide has historically been used as a sedative and anticonvulsant (now largely replaced by more modern drugs). In photography, it was used in photographic emulsions. In oilfield drilling, sodium bromide is an important component of completion and workover fluids, where its high solubility allows preparation of dense, clear brine solutions (sodium bromide brines) for well control applications. Terracore Chemicals supplies sodium bromide in technical and industrial grades in 25 kg bags across Southern Africa.