Illustrative packaging. Pack format confirmed with your quotation.
About This Product
Mixed xylenes are the heaviest BTX fraction, the cut left over once benzene and toluene have been distilled from the reformate's aromatic extract. Rather than one compound, the product combines ortho-, meta- and para-xylene with ethylbenzene, all boiling so close together that they come over as a single fraction. Solvent users buy that blend as it stands, while producers of pure para- or ortho-xylene upgrade it further, separating isomers by fractionation, crystallisation or adsorption, frequently in combination with an isomerisation step.
A multi-component cut cannot match the narrow range of benzene or toluene, so the distillation limits under ASTM D-850 are wider: the initial boiling point must be min 137 °C, the dry point max 143 °C, and the whole range must lie within 5°C (including 139.3°C). For a coatings formulator these figures define the evaporation profile. The IBP floor excludes lighter aromatics that would hasten flash-off, and the dry point ceiling prevents a heavy tail that stays in the film and delays hardening. With non-aromatic hydrocarbons at max 4.0 vol %, solvency remains near that of a straight aromatic. Receipt checks are specific gravity, 0.8650 – 0.8750, and Pt-Co colour, max 20.
The remaining purity tests match those of the lighter aromatics: acidity nil, sulphur compounds free of H2S & SO2, copper strip non-corrosive. Acid wash colour is set at max 6, looser than the benzene and toluene limit to reflect a heavier mixed cut, but still tight enough to screen out olefins that darken on contact with acid. The specification does not fix the isomer ratio or the ethylbenzene content; if either matters to your process, state the limits at enquiry.
Because xylenes evaporate more slowly than toluene, a wet film stays open longer, flows and levels better and is less prone to blushing when humidity is high. Formulators use them in epoxy, alkyd and polyurethane coatings, baking enamels, automotive and industrial finishes and synthetic resin solutions, and agrochemical producers rely on them as the standard aromatic carrier for emulsifiable concentrate (EC) pesticides. Chemically, nitration gives nitroxylenes, whose reduction yields xylidines used as dye and agrochemical intermediates. Put simply, benzene is the feedstock of the BTX range, toluene the quicker solvent and the TDI precursor, and mixed xylenes the choice where slower evaporation and a higher boiling range are wanted.
BG Petro Chemicals supplies mixed xylenes of Pakistani origin. Pack type is confirmed with each offer, based on quantity and route; every lot is tested, with results issued on a certificate of analysis, and an SDS on flammability and exposure precautions is available on request.
