Illustrative packaging. Pack format confirmed with your quotation.
About This Product
Diethylene glycol (DEG; formula C4H10O3; CAS 111-46-6) is a clear, colourless and odourless viscous liquid with a sweet taste. It is fully miscible with water and strongly hygroscopic.
DEG has real industrial value as a natural gas drying agent, a plasticiser and softener for resins, and a polyol for polyurethanes and unsaturated polyesters. How it must be controlled, however, is decided by its toxicology. In the body it breaks down to 2-hydroxyethoxyacetic acid and diglycolic acid, metabolites that cause acute renal failure, and only a small dose is lethal. Its sweet taste, viscosity and resemblance to glycerine and propylene glycol have led, again and again, to its substitution for them in syrups and toothpaste, sometimes deliberately and sometimes through inadequate testing, with mass poisonings that have killed hundreds of people across several countries and decades. For buyers the response is a matter of procedure: pharmacopoeias now demand identity testing of each container of glycerine and propylene glycol on receipt, and DEG should never be handled or stored anywhere it could be confused with them.
Its main outlets are natural gas dehydration, plasticisers, brake fluids, antifreeze, polyurethane and unsaturated polyester manufacture, and industrial solvent use.
BG Petro Chemicals supplies DEG strictly for industrial use. It is specified on assay, water, monoethylene glycol content, acidity, colour and ash, and the grade is confirmed with each quotation.
Specifications
Applications
Supply notes
- Grade
- Our team confirms this with your quotation.
