Food

• As a preservative in fruits and starch
• As an enzyme inhibitor in melanin formation (black and brown spots)

Treatment of waste water
As an antichlor and in the detoxification of cyanide and chromate

Chemical and pharmaceutical

• For purifying and isolating aldehydes and ketones
• For destroying waste bromine

Textiles
For bleaching wool and jute 

Leather 
For solubilising tanning extracts

Paper and pulp

• For bleaching ground wood
• As an antichlor