Heavy Chemicals

The major use of Sulfuric Acid is in the production of fertilizers, like, superphosphate of lime and ammonium sulphate. It is also widely used in the manufacture of chemicals, like, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulphate salts, synthetic detergents, dyes and pigments, explosives, and drugs.

Nitric Acid is used in the production of ammonium nitrate for fertilizers, making plastics, and in the manufacture of dyes. It is also used for making explosives such as nitro-glycerine and TNT. When combined with hydrochloric acid, an element called aqua regia is formed.

Hydrochloric Acid is also used in the production of batteries, photoflash bulbs and fireworks. It’s even used to process sugar and make gelatin. Hydrochloric acid, like last month’s chlorine compound, sodium chloride, is another “workhorse” chemical because it is incredibly useful in a wide variety of ways.

Phosphoric acid has many applications. Due to its non-toxic and mildly acidic nature, it is used in food flavourings, beverages, dental products, cosmetics, and skin care products. Industrially, it is used mainly in the production of phosphate fertilizers.

Citric Acid is widely used as a flavouring, as an acidifier and chelating agent. The most common uses of citric acid are as a preservative and flavouring agent in food and beverages such as soft drinks. Citric Acid is used as an emulsifying agent in ice-creams.

Sulphamic Acid is used as an acidic cleaning agent, typically for metals and ceramics. It is a replacement for hydrochloric acid for the removal of rust. In households, it is often found as a descaling agent in detergents, cleaners and toilet cleaners for the removal of limescale.

Oxalic Acid acts as a reducing agent for metal oxides to remove tarnish as well as rust or ink stains. It is used commercially as a laundry rinse, wood-bleaching agent, and calcium remover. Oxalic Acid can remove some paints and varnishes. It is also used as a mordant in dyeing textiles and in the manufacture of ink.

Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH2-COOH) bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. It is synthesized by the alkali-catalyzed reaction of cellulose with chloroacetic acid. The polar (organic acid) carboxyl groups render the cellulose soluble and chemically reactive.

Caustic Soda Pearls are used in the production of soap as they engender saponification of the vegetable oils or fats that are necessary for soap manufacturing.

Liquid Caustic Soda is a strong alkaline solution produced during electrolysis of saline water. Liquid caustic soda is used in various applications, such as chemical fibres, paper and pulp, chemical products, water supply and sewerage systems, and food additives.

Caustic Soda Flakes (technical sodium hydroxide flakes) – flake mass of white color, are very hygroscopic, and very soluble in water and alcohol. The formula is NaOH.  Its main uses are in the manufacture of pulp and paper, alumina, soap and detergents, petroleum products and chemical production. Other applications include water treatment, food, textiles, metal processing, mining, glass making and more.

Ammonia is used as a refrigerant gas, for purification of water supplies, and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides, dyes and other chemicals. It is found in many household and industrial-strength cleaning solutions too.

Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na3PO4. It is a white, granular or crystalline solid, highly soluble in water, producing an alkaline solution. TSP is used as a cleaning agent, builder, lubricant, food additive, stain remover, and degreaser.

Triethylene Glycol is used as a dehydrating agent for natural gas, a solvent and lubricant in textile dyeing and printing, a plasticizer, a raw material for the production of polyester resins and polyols, a humectant, a constituent of hydraulic fluids, a selective solvent for aromatics.

Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) is a compound that can be effectively used for water purification. It is used on a large scale for surface purification, bleaching, odour removal and water disinfection.

1,1,1-trichloroethane, also known as methyl chloroform, is a chloroalkane. This colourless, sweet-smelling liquid was once produced industrially in large quantities for use as a solvent. It is a superior solvent for organic compounds that do not dissolve well in hydrocarbons such as hexane.

Toluene has numerous commercial and industrial applications: it is a solvent in paints, lacquers, thinners, glues, correction fluid, and nail polish remover, and is used in the printing and leather tanning processes.

The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. Trichloroethylene has been used in miscellaneous chemical synthesis and solvent applications, including: as a synthesis feedstock for products such as paints, adhesives and cleaners; as a reactant to produce pesticide intermediates; in the chemical synthesis of flame-retardant chemicals; as a solvent in pharmaceutical.

Calcium Hypochlorite is known to be the active ingredient in many commercial bleaching agents such as bleaching powder, chlorinated lime, and chlorine powder. The most important application of calcium hypochlorite is in the sanitization of public swimming pools. It is also used to disinfect drinking water.

Mono-ethylene Glycol (MEG) can be used for applications that require chemical intermediates for resins, solvent couplers, freezing point depression, solvents, humectants and chemical intermediates.

Ethanolamine is commonly called Monoethanolamine or MEA. It is used as feedstock in the production of detergents, emulsifiers, polishes, pharmaceuticals, corrosion inhibitors, and chemical intermediates.

Formaldehyde is a colourless, strong-smelling gas used in making building materials and many household products. It is used in pressed-wood products, such as particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard; glues and adhesives; permanent-press fabrics; paper product coatings; and certain insulation materials.

Aluminium Sulphate is used in water purification and as a mordant in dyeing and printing textiles. In water purification, it causes suspended impurities to coagulate into larger particles and then settle to the bottom of the container (or be filtered out) more easily. This process is called coagulation or flocculation.

Sodium tripolyphosphate, also known as pentasodium triphosphate, pentasodium tripolyphosphate or sodium triphosphate, is used in a wide range of applications in the manufacture of cleaning products and food preservatives as well as in water treatment facilities.

SHMP is used as a sequestrant and has applications within a wide variety of industries, including as a food additive in which it is used under the E number E452i. Sodium carbonate is sometimes added to SHMP to raise the pH to 8.0–8.6, which produces a number of SHMP products used for water softening and detergents.

Sodium Sulphite Anhydrous is used in the photography industry to protect developing solutions from oxidation, in the pulp and paper industry, in water treatment as an oxygen scavenger agent, as a desulfurizing and dechlorinating agent in the leather industry and as a bleaching agent in textile industry. It is used as a preservative to prevent dried fruit from discoloring. It finds application as a sulfonation and sulfomethylation agent in the chemical industry. It is involved in the production of sodium thiosulfate. Other applications include forth flotation ores, oil recovery and making dyes.

Sodium Sulphate is used as a sulfonation and sulfomethylation agent in the chemical manufacturing industry. It is also used for the sodium thiosulfate production. This compound has several other important applications, including froth ores flotation, oil recovery, food preservatives, and colouring.

In its edible form of table salt, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. Large quantities of sodium chloride are used in many industrial processes, and it is a major source of sodium and chlorine compounds used as feedstocks for further chemical syntheses.

Soda Ash, also known as sodium carbonate, has the following uses: Industrial applications – Being a highly soluble substance, soda ash is used for numerous chemical reactions. It’s mostly used as an ingredient in the manufacture of dyes and colouring agents, synthetic detergents and fertilizers.

Sodium Bicarbonate is an antacid used to relieve heartburn and acid indigestion. Your doctor also may prescribe sodium bicarbonate to make your blood or urine less acidic in certain conditions. This medication is sometimes prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Sodium Bisulphite is used as a food additive and a food preservative. It is also used in purification and decolorization processes during production of various chemicals. It has applications in wastewater treatment, in drinking water treatment, in prevention of corrosion, wine making, and DNA sequencing.

Sodium Metasilicate is used in fireproofing mixtures, in laundry, dairy, metal, and floor cleaning solutions, in deinking paper, in washing carbonated drink bottles, in insecticides, fungicides, and antimicrobial compounds, as a chemical intermediate for silica gel catalysts, and as an additive in soaps and synthetic detergents too.

Sodium Bisulphate is used primarily to lower pH levels. It also is used in metal finishing, cleaning products, and to lower the pH of water for effective chlorination in swimming pools and hot tubs.

Sodium Nitrite is an inorganic sodium salt having nitrite as the counterion. It has uses as a food preservative and antidote to cyanide poisoning too. It is also an excellent antimicrobial food preservative, an antihypertensive agent, a food antioxidant, a poison and an antidote to cyanide poisoning.

Sodium Benzoate is a preservative, with the E number E211. It is most widely used in acidic foods such as salad dressings (i.e. acetic acid in vinegar), carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), jams and fruit juices (citric acid), pickles (acetic acid), condiments, and frozen yogurt toppings.

Perchloroethylene is used in aerosol formulations for the automotive aftermarket, particularly for brake cleaning, as well as water repellents for garments, spot removers and silicone lubricants. It can be used as an insulating fluid in some electrical transformers as a substitute for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Isopropyl Alcohol is mixed with water for use as a rubbing-alcohol antiseptic. It is also used in aftershave lotions, hand lotions, and other cosmetics. In industry it is used as an inexpensive solvent for cosmetics, drugs, shellacs, and gums, as well as for denaturing ethanol (ethyl alcohol).

Methylene Chloride is used in various industrial processes in many different industries: paint stripping, pharmaceutical manufacturing, paint remover manufacturing, metal cleaning and degreasing, adhesives manufacturing and use, polyurethane foam production, film base manufacturing, polycarbonate resin production etc.

Its principal uses are in organic synthesis, as a fuel, solvent, and antifreeze. Methanol is a polar liquid at room temperature. It is used as antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethanol. The chemical is also used to produce biodiesel via transesterification reaction.

Butanol is used in the synthesis of 2-butoxyethanol. A major application for butanol is as a reactant with acrylic acid to produce butyl acrylate, a primary ingredient of water based acrylic paint. It is also used as a base for perfumes, but on its own has a highly alcoholic aroma.

The primary use of all three isomers of butyl acetate is as a solvent in the production of lacquers and paints; photographic film; resins; and coatings for furniture, fixtures, containers, and automobiles. Since the 1990s, these compounds have been substituted for other solvents that are considered hazardous environmental pollutants.

White Spirit is used in paints, coatings, waxes, varnishes, adhesives, printing inks and liquid photocopier toners. In industry it is also used as a solvent for cleaning, degreasing and substance extraction. In households, white spirit is commonly used to clean paint brushes or thin paint.

It is primarily used as a solvent in the printing, rubber, and leather industries. Along with other solvents, xylene is also widely used as a cleaning agent, a thinner for paint, and in varnishes.

Acetone is a good solvent for many plastics and some synthetic fibres. It is used for thinning polyester resin, cleaning tools used with it, and dissolving two-part epoxies and superglue before they harden. It is used as one of the volatile components of some paints and varnishes.

Ethanol is used extensively as a solvent in the manufacture of varnishes and perfumes, as a preservative for biological specimens, in the preparation of essences and flavourings, in the medicine & drugs industry, as a disinfectant and in tinctures (e.g., tincture of iodine); and as a fuel and gasoline additive.

A chemical compound that lowers the surface tension between a liquid and a gas, solid, or other liquid. To get scientific, surfactants have molecules that are both attracted to water (hydrophilic) and repelled by water (hydrophobic). The combination of both help the surfactant stay on a waxy surface.