Mineral Oil

About This Product

Mineral oil is a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons. Crude petroleum is distilled and the distillate refined, normally by hydrotreating, until its aromatic and unsaturated components have been removed. The result is a clear, colourless liquid with no odour or taste, offered across a range of viscosities.

The same generic name covers materials with very different safety profiles, so the depth of refining is the specification that counts. Untreated and lightly refined distillates still carry polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a number of which are carcinogenic, and oils of that kind are classified on that basis. White oils are hydrotreated far enough to remove those PAHs almost entirely. Pharmaceutical and food grades must also meet pharmacopoeial purity limits, among them a UV absorbance test that screens for residual PAHs, and only oil that passes may be used in baby oil, laxatives, cosmetics or food-contact lubricants. Technical white oils sit between the two extremes. Buyers should therefore name the grade and the intended contact when they enquire, rather than rely on the generic description.

Main outlets are personal care and cosmetics, pharmaceutical preparations, plastics processing, food-grade lubricants and textile machinery, plus duty as a carrier oil or defoamer.

BG Petro Chemicals offers pharmaceutical, food and technical grades to agreed limits on viscosity, pour point, colour, sulphur, acidity and UV absorbance. Grade and pack size are confirmed with each quotation, and current specifications, safety data and any available batch documentation are provided on request.