• Formulating

  Expired sodium benzoate

  Posted by luiscuevasii on March 21, 2016 at 1:48 am

  Good evening.

  I have troubles finding sodium benzoate in my country, it is an imported raw material and it is difficult to find it, til today i have just 2 offers, and boths are a little suspiciuos, a dealer offered several 25kg sealed and well conserved Bags but expired (20/09/2015) and another company offered well conserved sealed bags that havent a expired date 01/05/16 but it is close to expire , in normal conditions with sodium benzoate  my product (shampoo) last for at least 8months.

  Have someone experienced working with expired preservatives?, it is too risky?, does the second offer would be a good option?.

  belassi replied 8 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  belassi

  Member

  March 21, 2016 at 4:57 am

  I don’t think sodium benzoate is likely to “expire” unless it’s been exposed to damp, UV light, etc.

• 

  luiscuevasii

  Member

  March 21, 2016 at 7:17 pm

  thanks @Belassi, the dealer gave me a 2pounds bag, and the benzoate is in granular form, and looks OK, exellent solubility, color and odor.
  there arent specialized laboratories in my country and there arent cosmetic labs neither. so i dont have any clue on how to test it besides waiting like 3 months or so and see if works.

  The 25kg bags are totally sealed and they arent exposed to light or high humidity, but still the doubt

• 

  belassi

  Member

  March 21, 2016 at 9:59 pm

  It will be ok I’m sure. A rough test would be the solubility. 1g dissolves in 1.4g of boiling water, so you could boil some water, add sufficient powder so that there is an excess after dissolving as much as possible; rapidly filter the solution or use a separation funnel to remove the excess solid; measure 14 mL of the solution into an evaporating dish of known mass; place in dessication chamber; weigh the dried mass; it should be 10g within experimental error (plus or minus 5% or less if you’re any good in the lab!)

• 

  luiscuevasii

  Member

  March 23, 2016 at 8:10 pm

  Thanks again @Belassi, i tested the solubility and its excellent, i will trust in your comments and will buy 4 bags and see what happens in at least 1 month. 

  My concern is about the reservative behavior assuming that is a expired benzoate
  

• 

  belassi

  Member

  March 23, 2016 at 8:38 pm

  It is a salt, an ionic compound. Ionic compounds are very stable, usually, and I see no reason why this one should be anything other.

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