Acetic acid
- Benchmark: Benchmark 2
- Assessed: 2013-10-21
- Expires: 2016-10-21
Used primarily in Food Contact & Additives, Industrial / Manufacturing, Pesticides & Biocides, Pharmaceuticals, Solvents & Cleaning, and Textile Applications applications, Acetic acid is specifically used in acidifier, buffer, chemical intermediate, food additive, food industry, pesticide, pharmaceutical, preservative, solvent, and 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
Key Functions: Food Contact & Additives, Industrial / Manufacturing, Pesticides & Biocides, Pharmaceuticals, Solvents & Cleaning, Textile Applications