Glycerol Triacetate: A Versatile Specialty Chemical for Diverse Industries
Discover the multifaceted applications and unique properties of Glycerol Triacetate, a key ingredient shaping modern products.
Get a Quote & SampleProduct Core Value
Glycerol Triacetate
Glycerol Triacetate, commonly known as Triacetin, is a clear, colorless, and slightly viscous oily liquid. With its exceptional solvency, plasticizing capabilities, and humectant properties, it plays a vital role across numerous sectors, including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and various industrial applications. Its high safety profile, including GRAS status from the FDA, underscores its reliability.
- Enhance Flavors and Textures: As a key food additive (E1518), Triacetin serves as an effective solvent and humectant, improving the taste and mouthfeel of products like baked goods, confectionery, and beverages, ensuring product quality and appeal.
- Improve Product Flexibility: Its significant plasticizing effect makes Glycerol Triacetate ideal for enhancing the flexibility and durability of materials such as cellulose acetate in cigarette filters and various plastics, contributing to better product performance.
- Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Applications: Widely used as a pharmaceutical excipient, Triacetin acts as a humectant, plasticizer, and solvent in formulations like capsules and tablets. In cosmetics, it functions as a carrier and fixative for fragrances, improving product texture and longevity.
- Fuel Additive Benefits: Glycerol Triacetate is also utilized as a fuel additive, specifically as an anti-knock agent in gasoline and to enhance the cold flow and viscosity properties of biodiesel, contributing to improved engine efficiency.
Key Advantages
Excellent Solvency
Leveraging its excellent solvency, Triacetin effectively dissolves a wide range of flavors and fragrances, making it invaluable in the perfumery and food industries for creating stable and appealing products.
Versatile Plasticizer
The plasticizer for cellulose acetate properties of Triacetin are crucial for improving material flexibility in applications like cigarette filters and various plastic formulations, ensuring durability and ease of use.
Safe and Reliable
With its GRAS status from the FDA and its GRAS designation, Triacetin is recognized as a safe ingredient, particularly as a humectant in cosmetics and a pharmaceutical excipient, ensuring consumer safety and product integrity.
Key Applications
Food Industry
Used as a food additive E1518, Triacetin acts as a solvent for flavorings, a humectant, and a carrier, enhancing the sensory qualities and shelf-life of various food products.
Cosmetics and Personal Care
In cosmetics, Triacetin functions as a solvent, fixative for fragrances, plasticizer, and humectant, improving the texture, longevity, and overall appeal of products like perfumes, lotions, and makeup.
Pharmaceuticals
As a pharmaceutical excipient, Triacetin is used as a plasticizer, humectant, and solvent in the manufacturing of capsules and tablets, contributing to drug stability and delivery.
Industrial Uses
Beyond consumer goods, Triacetin serves as a plasticizer for cellulose-based materials, a solvent in printing inks, and a fuel additive for biodiesel, demonstrating its broad industrial utility.