Industrial salts & gases
Grade is not a quality ranking. It is a separate supply chain, and it cannot be added afterwards.
Technical, feed and food grade sodium bicarbonate can come off the same crystalliser and are not the same product by the time they reach you. What separates them is dedicated handling, audited hygiene and a documentation chain — none of which can be applied retrospectively to material that travelled as technical grade.
Sodium bicarbonate
One molecule, four industries, and particle size decides which.
Into flue gas treatment, animal feed, food processing, detergents, water treatment, haemodialysis solutions and fire suppression. Assay is rarely the discriminator — almost all commercial bicarbonate is high assay. Particle size distribution and bulk density are what make a grade fit for its use.
- Flue gas treatment
- Dry sorbent injection into the gas stream to neutralise acid gases. Requires a fine, milled grade — surface area is the whole mechanism, and a coarse product injected into a duct passes through unreacted. Usually milled at the point of injection from a coarser feed, so what you buy depends on whether you have the mill.
- Animal feed
- As a rumen buffer and a sodium source. Feed grade with the compliance documentation the destination requires, coarser than the flue gas grade so it handles and mixes without dusting.
- Food
- Food grade, E500(ii), to the pharmacopoeial or food-chemical specification the destination enforces. Baking, effervescence, pH control.
- Detergents and technical use
- Technical grade into detergent formulation, cleaning products, water treatment and pH adjustment.
- Specification parameters
- Assay, particle size distribution, bulk density, moisture, insolubles, chloride, iron, heavy metals, and pH of solution. For food and pharmaceutical use, the applicable monograph rather than a house specification.
Ammonium chloride
Not classified as dangerous goods, and still not simple.
Into dry-cell batteries, soldering and galvanising flux, textile printing, fertiliser blends, and feed and food applications at the appropriate grade. It is one of the few lines in this division that moves as ordinary cargo — which is a logistics advantage and occasionally a false comfort.
- Grades
- Technical, feed and food, each with its own documentation chain and handling separation.
- Specification parameters
- Assay, moisture, sulphate, heavy metals, iron, water-insoluble matter, pH of solution, and particle size or crystal form where the application depends on it.
- Caking
- Ammonium chloride cakes readily in humid conditions. Anti-caking treatment, packaging specification and storage conditions belong in the enquiry, particularly for a Gulf or tropical destination, because a caked bag is a handling problem your team inherits.
- Fertiliser use
- Where it is going into a fertiliser blend, the destination's fertiliser regulations govern — see Fertilisers & Nutrients for how those requirements are handled.
- Handling
- Not classified for transport, but it releases ammonia on contact with strong alkalis and evolves irritant fumes when heated. Segregation from alkalis, and ventilation where it is heated in a process.
Carbon dioxide
The line where geography beats price.
CO₂ is recovered as a by-product — from ammonia plants, ethanol fermentation, hydrogen production and natural sources — which means supply is regional, tied to whether those plants are running, and periodically short. Buying it well is mostly about securing a source near the point of use, not about negotiating a rate.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Forms | Gaseous in cylinders and bundles; liquid, refrigerated, in bulk tanks and ISO containers. Solid CO₂ — dry ice — where the application requires it. |
| Transport classification | Compressed gas UN 1013, Class 2.2; refrigerated liquid UN 2187, Class 2.2; solid carbon dioxide UN 1845. Non-flammable, non-toxic classification — and an asphyxiant, which is the hazard that actually kills. |
| Beverage and food grade | To the recognised beverage-industry quality specification and the applicable food additive standard — E290 in the EU. Purity alone is not the specification: the trace impurity list, including sulphur compounds, hydrocarbons, acetaldehyde and benzene, is what governs whether a batch is fit for a drink. |
| Applications | Beverage carbonation, food freezing and chilling, modified atmosphere packaging, welding shield gas, greenhouse enrichment, pH control in water treatment, inerting and fire suppression. |
| Analysis | Batch certificate of analysis against the agreed impurity schedule. On beverage grade this is not a formality — a trace impurity at parts per billion is a taste failure across an entire production run. |
Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and it displaces oxygen without warning. It has no colour, and at the concentrations that matter it gives no reliable smell. Leaks pool in cellars, pits, tank rooms, vessel holds and confined spaces, and people walk into them. Gas detection, ventilation and confined-space procedure at the receiving site are the buyer's responsibility, and we would rather state that in the offer than assume it is understood.
Grade separation
What food and feed grade actually buys you.
The difference between grades is not usually assay. It is everything around the assay, and it is the part that costs.
- Dedicated equipment
- Food and feed material handled in equipment reserved for that purpose, with previous-cargo restrictions on any shared tank or container, and cleaning certification where equipment is shared at all.
- Audited hygiene management
- A recognised food safety management certification at the producing plant, appropriate to the destination market. Feed material has its own scheme requirements that differ from food.
- Traceability
- Batch traceability from production to delivery, so a recall can be executed rather than described. This is the capability being paid for and the one nobody tests until they need it.
- Destination certification
- Food and feed compliance requirements differ substantially between the EU, the GCC and other markets, and halal or kosher certification is a common requirement in our delivery markets. Confirmed before shipment rather than discovered at import.
- Documentation
- Specification against the applicable monograph or standard, batch certificate of analysis, declaration of compliance for the intended use, allergen and GMO statements where required, and the certification of the producing plant.
Straight answer
What it is not, said before you find out.
- Technical grade cannot be promoted to food grade by paperwork
- The grade is the handling chain, not the assay. Material that travelled as technical grade is technical grade at destination whatever certificate is attached to it, and we will not attach one.
- “99% pure” is not a food specification
- On CO₂ especially, the impurities that matter are measured in parts per billion and a purity figure says nothing about them. The impurity schedule is the specification.
- CO₂ availability is regional and it goes short
- Supply depends on host plants running. Shortages are recurrent, seasonal in some markets, and cannot be solved by paying more at short notice. If CO₂ is critical to your operation, it is a term arrangement, not a spot purchase.
- Particle size, not assay, decides most bicarbonate applications
- A high-assay coarse product is the wrong material for dry sorbent injection and no amount of assay compensates. Tell us the application and we will tell you the grade.
- Hygroscopic products arrive as they were stored
- Bicarbonate and ammonium chloride both take on moisture and cake. Packing specification and storage instruction are part of the order for a humid destination, not advice appended to it.
- Asphyxiation is the CO₂ hazard, not toxicity
- The transport classification is non-toxic and it is the classification that misleads people. Detection and confined-space procedure at your site are the control.
How to specify
Seven lines, and we can price it properly.
- 1 · Product and grade
- Technical, feed or food — and the standard or monograph it must meet, not just the word.
- 2 · Application
- What it is going into. On bicarbonate this decides the particle size; on CO₂ it decides the impurity schedule.
- 3 · Physical specification
- Particle size distribution and bulk density for solids; concentration and impurity limits for gases and liquids.
- 4 · Packaging
- Bulk, big bag, 25 kg bag, cylinder, bundle or bulk tank — with moisture protection specified for a humid destination.
- 5 · Certification required
- Food or feed scheme, halal or kosher, and the destination's import documentation.
- 6 · Quantity and pattern
- Volume per delivery and whether this is a trial parcel or a term supply. On CO₂ in particular, term arrangements are how security of supply is achieved.
- 7 · Destination and receiving arrangement
- Port and country, discharge and storage at your end, and for gases the receiving vessel and its condition.
Inspection
What we check, and what travels with the goods.
- Batch certificate of analysis
- Issued by the producing plant against the agreed parameter and test-method schedule, tied to the consignment. For food and feed grades, against the applicable monograph rather than a house specification.
- Equipment and previous cargo
- Previous cargo declaration and cleaning certificate for shared equipment; confirmation of dedicated equipment where the grade requires it. This is the control that makes a food grade a food grade.
- Independent verification
- Where contracted, an agency appointed for the consignment — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly, with the quality determination point named in the contract and sealed retained samples held at both ends.
- Condition on arrival
- For solids: packaging integrity, absence of caking, moisture protection intact. For gases: cylinder and tank condition, valve integrity, pressure and seal reconciliation.
- Documentation per shipment
- Safety data sheet in the destination format and language; batch certificate of analysis; declaration of compliance for food or feed use with the producing plant's certification; halal or kosher certificates where required; dangerous goods declaration for gases with UN number and class; import documentation for the destination; certificate of origin; bill of lading; and the inspection report where an agency is appointed.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.