Sodium bisulfate is used primarily to lower pH. It is also used in metal finishing,
cleaning products, and to lower the pH of water for effective chlorination in swimming pools and hot tubs. Sodium bisulfate is also AAFCO approved as a general-use feed additive, including use in
poultry feed and companion animal food. It is used as a urine acidifier to reduce urinary stones in cats. It is highly toxic to certain
echinoderms, but fairly harmless to most other life forms; so it is used in controlling outbreaks of
crown-of-thorns starfish. Sodium bisulfate was the primary active ingredient in the toilet bowl cleaners
Vanish and
Sani-Flush, both now discontinued. In the textiles industry, it is sometimes applied to
velvet cloth made with a silk backing and a pile of cellulose-based fiber (rayon, cotton, hemp, etc.) to create "burnout velvet": the sodium bisulfate, when applied to such a fabric and heated, causes the cellulose-based fibers to become brittle and flake away, leaving burned-out areas in the finished material, usually in attractive patterns. Sodium bisulfate is the active ingredient in some granular
poultry litter treatments used to control ammonia. Sodium bisulfate has also been shown to significantly reduce the concentration of
Campylobacter and
Salmonella in chicken houses. Sodium bisulfate is sometimes used as the active ingredient in
flocculant tablets, a step in soil and water quality test kits.
In food Sodium bisulfate is used as a
food additive to leaven cake mixes (make them rise) as well as being used in meat and poultry processing and most recently in browning prevention of fresh-cut produce. Sodium bisulfate is considered
generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the FDA and has been named to the
EPA Safer Choice Safer Chemicals Ingredients List. The food-grade product also meets the requirements set out in the
Food Chemicals Codex. It is denoted by
E number E514ii in the EU and is also approved for use in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico. where it is listed as additive 514. Food grade sodium bisulfate is used in a variety of food products, including beverages, dressings, sauces, and fillings. It has many synonyms including bisulfate of soda, sodium acid sulfate, mono sodium hydrogen sulfate, sodium hydrogen sulfate, sodium hydrosulfate, and sulfuric acid sodium salt (1:1). Sodium bisulfate lowers the pH without creating a sour taste, and has been used in the place of citric, malic, or phosphoric acids that are commercially available, == Notes ==