Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Denaturated Alcohol

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  • Denaturated Alcohol

    Posted by Gustavo on February 23, 2016 at 6:33 pm

    Hello everyone!

    I’ve been researching about denaturated alcohol and then I could find for the first how a subject can be easy and hard at the same time. We are adjusting a product to be FDA suitable so we have changed all of our water soluble dyes. But I just can’t find a supplier for any type of denaturated alcohol in Brazil. I heard womewhere I could prepare my own denaturated alcohol but how? which one? There are almost a thousand different types… and I just need 0,7% in the formula. I actually didn’t uunderstand if each type reffers to one application or else. Could any of you help me?
    Gustavo replied 8 years ago 6 Members · 15 Replies
  • 15 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    February 23, 2016 at 7:17 pm

    Denatured alcohol refers to ethanol that has had a small amount of bitter substance added. 0.7% is about one-sixth the strength of beer. You could use any commercial source of cheap ethanol as long as it is reasonably pure (no methanol etc)

  • Mike_M

    Member
    February 23, 2016 at 7:21 pm

    http://www.grainprocessing.com/alcohol/sda-usage-chart.html

    When I was working for a chemical manufacturer the most common SDA that we sold to cosmetic companies was SDA 40B. We don’t use it in any formulas where I am now but maybe somebody else can tell you which is preferred for dyes.  

  • Mike_M

    Member
    February 23, 2016 at 11:09 pm

    The one in our database is 96/4/1 EtOH/IPA/T-butyl

  • Gustavo

    Member
    February 24, 2016 at 7:17 pm
    Thanks for your replies!

    I currently use pure ethanol usp grade. My doubt is even at 0,7% it is required to be denaturated?

  • belassi

    Member
    February 24, 2016 at 7:46 pm

    Unless you are in some place like Saudi Arabia I wouldn’t worry about it.

  • Gustavo

    Member
    February 25, 2016 at 11:31 am

    We have this product in Brazil for at least 15 years. I’m OK with it and I don’t worry about it Belassi.

    My concern is that now we are about to export this product to US. So I’ve been trying to make sure if this amount o ethanol is allowed in US or if I must denaturate this alcohol.
  • Mike_M

    Member
    February 25, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    If it comes in already in the product you shouldn’t run into issues. If you are importing raw material you will get killed with taxes.

  • markbroussard

    Member
    February 25, 2016 at 10:15 pm

    Just throw a little Lavender Oil in it and you’ve got Alcohol Denatured 38B Lavender.  They are all the same, the only difference is the denaturing agent used … this is to ensure that the alcohol is unpalatable to drink.  That is the only difference, really.

  • Gustavo

    Member
    February 26, 2016 at 11:00 am

    Thank you guys! My first wish was to have all products made in US by a contract manufacture with raw materials supplied by US suppliers. That would make thing a lot easier and faster.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    February 26, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    The important thing to remember is that denatured alcohol is produced for tax reasons, and not for any chemical/technical purpose. Anything that you make with USP ethanol can also be made with denatured alcohol. 

    The only reason to use denatured alcohol is because it’s cheaper, and the only reason it’s cheaper is because the US government taxes the hell out of drinkable alcohol. The FDA doesn’t care if you use pure or denatured alcohol, as long as your formula is safe.
  • Progressor

    Member
    February 27, 2016 at 7:41 am

    Hi. Can i use in90%alcohol instead of featured alcohol in my formula,,?

  • Progressor

    Member
    February 27, 2016 at 7:43 am

    I meant can i use 90% alcohol or 96% alcohol instead of denatured alcohol.

  • Mike_M

    Member
    February 29, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    The purpose of denaturing it is usually for tax purposes. The denaturant usually does not have particular desired quality to it.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    February 29, 2016 at 7:11 pm

    Sigh. I’ll try explaining again.

    Denatured alcohol (Ethanol) is regular alcohol that has poison added to it to keep people from drinking it. There is no other difference. There are a great many different poisons that can be added, depending on what the poisoned alcohol will be used for. Denatured alcohol can come in different strengths, just like drinkable alcohol can. The strength of the alcohol has absolutely nothing to do with it being denatured or not. There is no chemical difference in how denatured alcohol will behave in a formula as opposed to how drinkable alcohol behaves - unless you are making something that can get into the body somehow.
    Just try to remember: Denatured = Poisoned
  • Gustavo

    Member
    March 4, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    Thank you all for your replies. That was really helpful!!!

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