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GreenScreen Chemical Hazard Assessments

64-19-7

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Acetic acid

  • Benchmark: Benchmark 2
  • Assessed: 2013-10-21
  • Expires: 2016-10-21

Key Functions: Food Contact & Additives, Industrial / Manufacturing, Pesticides & Biocides, Pharmaceuticals, Solvents & Cleaning, Textile Applications

Acetic acid is a common chemical with wide applications in chemical industry, food and medicine.

The largest use (33%) of acetic acid is as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of vinyl acetate

monomer, which is used to make emulsions as base resins for water-based paints, adhesive, paper

coatings and textile finishes. Another use (17%) of acetic acid is as a process solvent in the

manufacture of terephthalic acid which is used to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle resins

and polyester fiber. Acetic acid is also used as a food and animal feed additive, a preservative in

pickles, as a natural latex coagulant, and in textile dyeing and printing. Finally, dilute acetic acid

solutions are used to treated microorganism infections and to remove lime scale (EC 2012).

Chemical Synonyms Acetic acid, glacial; Acetic acid, glacial [USP:JAN]; Ethanoic acid

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