CITROFOL BII stands as a plasticizer, mostly used to soften and increase flexibility in many types of materials, especially plastics. Its chemical name, Tri-iso-butyl citrate, points to its roots: it’s derived from citric acid, a substance many of us know from lemons and limes. But in this form, it’s more than just a kitchen staple gone industrial. Folks who need to make things flexible, safer, or more human-friendly reach for this stuff, whether they’re shaping PVC plastic for toys, cling films, or clear medical tubing. Its versatility in form — sometimes showing up as a colorless liquid, other times as crystals or soft pearls — lets manufacturers scoop, pour, or mix it straight into their processes.
Looking at the molecule, you’ve got C18H32O7. That’s a chunky chemical formula, showing a blend of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen all linked up in a way that gives it mild, pleasant physical traits. The structure itself leans on three iso-butyl groups attached to a citric acid backbone. Not only do these branches keep things stable, but they help explain why CITROFOL BII can bend and twist with heat or pressure. Its density hovers around 1.05 grams per cubic centimeter — about the same as water, meaning it doesn’t feel overly heavy or syrupy in the hand. As for its specific gravity, it’s roughly the same unless you’re working under extreme laboratory conditions. People tend to see it as a clear liquid, though if you get it cold enough, it’ll start to crystallize or look a bit like soft flakes. Whatever its shape, it resists evaporating easily, so it tends to stick around, exactly where it’s put.
CITROFOL BII offers a gentle, almost neutral odor and slides right into a shelf of safe chemicals that don’t mess with your nose. What catches the eye is its high boiling point – generally sitting at about 320°C – and a melting point that has it staying liquid at most room conditions. If you pour it into a solution or blend it with other raw materials, CITROFOL BII won’t kick up a cloud of dust or break out into any hazardous reaction under typical handling. It’s non-volatile, it doesn’t set off alarms as a major fire risk, and its flashpoint sits somewhere above 170°C, which means accidents don’t happen easily. Safety sheets label it as relatively low-risk compared to heavy hitters in the chemical world, but gloves and a little common sense keep the odds in your favor. The HS Code for this substance lands at 29181500, making customs and import paperwork less of a headache for those looking to move it across borders for manufacturing or industrial work.
In the real world, CITROFOL BII travels as a liquid for the simple reason that most plasticizer applications need something that pours and mixes on the fly. Some specialty outlets offer it in flakes or pearls if bulk handling matters more than speed. Sprinkle it over plastic pellets or blend it into a chemical solution and suppliers will find it dissolves smoothly. Temperature shifts can force it into solid or powder forms; factory storage sneaks in barrels, tanks, or large bags depending on what the final user requires. In my own workplace, the liquid made it faster to dose right into an extruder, but customers making custom batches sometimes asked for the solid version to keep the shipping weight down or to let them meter out smaller amounts for pilot runs. Most often, the solid-to-liquid transformation is handled on-site, using gentle heat — a perk for folks looking to avoid drum heaters or volatile fumes.
CITROFOL BII’s safety profile grabs attention in regulation-heavy fields like food packaging and medical devices. The reason for its popularity springs from the way it steps around many of the health hazards that plague phthalates or other plasticizers. For example, European chemicals regulations often wave this material through, since it’s rarely flagged as causing cancer, genetic mutations, or fertility trouble — the big worries in the sector. For the worker melting, mixing, or shaping materials, gloves and simple eye protection cover most of the required bases. Spills don’t bring panic, as it’s not corrosive, reactive, or explosive in typical settings. Wash skin with soap and water, keep the room ventilated, and avoid too much dust if it’s in powder form. But it’s not a substance to swallow or to treat as food; manufacturers look to keep it off the market for home or hobby use, except as blended in finished goods.
The backbone for CITROFOL BII still comes from citric acid, but the actual iso-butyl alcohol ties in via petrochemical streams. Combining naturally sourced and synthetic ingredients creates a bridge between renewable resources and the bigger world of industrial chemistry. In plants that I've visited where raw material storage sits on the edge of town, tanker trucks pull up with citric acid from fermentation tanks, while other lines feed in batches of alcohol. The final reaction, guided by well-worn recipes and exacting temperatures, creates a stream of CITROFOL BII that then gets filtered, purified, and sent to filling. People debating renewable chemicals or circular economy often land on these sorts of materials. They don’t achieve full sustainability, but they move chemical manufacturing a bit further from purely fossil-fuel origin, without sacrificing the properties plastic producers count on every day.
Any chemical that shows up in so many daily products earns scrutiny. Industry watchdogs and consumer advocates demand better knowledge about what ends up in homes, medical wards, and playgrounds. CITROFOL BII wins points for lowering exposure to chemicals with bitter pasts, but demands for greater transparency, recyclable solutions, and bio-based feedstocks aren’t going away. In my years inside production, seeing the push toward “green chemistry” reshapes supply lines, with buyers asking about everything from the carbon footprint of transport to the condition of workers in chemical plants. Satisfying both regulatory requirements and consumer worries takes more than swapping out one ingredient for another. Engineers, buyers, and safety managers sit down with the latest test results, run full life cycle assessments, and keep watch for emerging data about CITROFOL BII’s behavior under heat, pressure, or exposure to sunlight. Where solid answers don’t exist, firms back up their decisions with transparent labels, full safety datasheets, and responsive quality control.
For brands and manufacturers, trust climbs when CITROFOL BII sources get linked to clearly documented supply chains. Fine-tuning production helps cut down on off-spec batches that could trigger recalls or regulatory headaches. Laboratories now analyze things like purity, viscosity, and chemical stability with a precision that earlier generations could only dream of. Packaging design cuts down on leaks, transportation routes prioritize quick delivery, and customer service teams field questions from both craftspeople and corporate procurement officers. Open conversations with regulators, plus ongoing research into bio-citric acid and greener alcohols, open up space for the next wave of sustainable chemicals. These changes sound like challenges on paper, but the upshot is a safer set of finished goods — and a public more willing to accept industrial chemistry as part of everyday life. Every bottle, drum, or bag of CITROFOL BII now carries a bit of that history, promising both performance for industry and peace of mind for people who depend on the products it helps make.
