Sodium 1-Hydroxyethanesulphonate goes by the formula C2H5NaO4S, and shows up most often as a solid white crystal, with some suppliers offering it in powdered, liquid, or flake form, depending on industry demand. You spot the crystalline or flake structure in big drums at chemical warehouses, the powder tucked away in sealed containers, sometimes granular like salt, and sometimes finer, lending itself to making solutions without much fuss. The key molecule at play has a sulphonate group linked to an ethyl chain and a sodium salt attached, making it water-soluble and relatively easy to dissolve at room temperature, no matter whether you're working at a large factory or a small lab bench. The HS Code for customs handling falls under 2904.10, since this is not some obscure specialty but a fairly common material for water treatment, textile, and detergent production. One defining property — it does not hold onto water from the air much, so you won’t see it cake up in normal storage, keeping handling manageable for warehouse teams stacking sacks or shifting drums day after day.
The chemical structure keeps things simple: a sodium cation and a hydroxyethanesulphonate anion, straight-line, no weird branchiness like you find with some raw materials. Bulk density sits around 1.7 to 1.8 g/cm³ for the solid form, and as a solution, it’s clear with a neutral to mildly alkaline pH, giving it some stability when mixing with other chemicals in water-based applications. It melts just shy of 300°C, so normal warehouse fires won’t turn it into a gas hazard immediately, but you still want to keep it away from direct flame. Dry powder flows well, avoiding clumping, and as crystals, it’s almost non-hygroscopic. Its molecular weight lands at 164.12 g/mol, and purity on the open market often promises more than 98% by weight, with trace metals tested down under 20 ppm for safety in manufacturing sensitive products. You will spot the solid in bags, but it also sometimes comes in pearls for bulk processes, or as a fine solution for companies that need to avoid dust in their line.
No matter how you look at it, Sodium 1-Hydroxyethanesulphonate matters as a versatile player in industry. It works well in textiles as a dye fixative and retardant, especially when factories must support sustainable washing protocols. It also acts as a builder in cleaning and detergent products, helping soften water and improving surfactant action, so things come out cleaner in both commercial laundries and home washing. Industrial water treatment plants depend on its chelating and sequestering ability, letting operators remove unwanted hardness from water, tackle fouling, and keep machinery running right. Labs sometimes rely on its consistent quality for buffer preparation and as a raw material in small-scale synthesis. For storage, keep away from acids and oxidizers, and try to avoid breathing in the dust — workers need at least a decent dust mask if handling bulk material, a lesson learned the hard way by plenty of maintenance crews over the years. Safety data says avoid open flames, but the product isn’t flammable in any real sense; still, spills mean a slip risk, so standard clean-up gear applies.
Workers spending time around Sodium 1-Hydroxyethanesulphonate will notice that it does not have a strong smell, and short contact with skin or eyes might cause irritation but rarely results in major injury — as long as they wash up after or use gloves. Repeated inhalation of fine particulates may risk some mild respiratory irritation, but chronic toxicity reports are rare; companies running regular safety reviews see it rank as “low hazard” compared to a lot of more reactive chemicals. Its hazard profile shows up mainly in documentation — signal word “Caution” instead of “Danger.” Environmental discharge matters because, in high doses, sulphonate salts can upset aquatic ecosystems, so plant managers must trap rinse water and pass it through neutralization before discharge. Disposal by landfill is common, provided regulations for non-toxic inorganic salts are followed. Bulk transport standards treat it as a harmless cargo, not something that demands UN hazardous markings. If you drop a drum at work, everyone will grumble about cleanup, but fires and poison emergencies do not follow.
Actual sourcing of Sodium 1-Hydroxyethanesulphonate depends on steady supply of ethylene derivatives and sodium sulphite — not rare, but purity of source batches can drift, so big manufacturers watch incoming lots for off-white coloring or odd odor, signs of contamination. Between global suppliers in Asia, Europe, and North America, pricing stays accessible. Factories prefer to buy in bulk-packed bags stacked on pallets for forklifts, or in IBC totes if dissolved. Quality assurance teams sample each lot for formula verification, keeping the physical form — powder, flakes, pearls, or liquid — aligned with downstream application need. Labs in textile plants, water treatment stations, or soap-making operations take small batch samples, checking density, pH, and solubility before approval. Any change in raw material source can upset a production run, so close communication between logistics and procurement keeps delays down. Over the years, using reputable sources always trumps chasing the absolute lowest price, since issues with unknown suppliers tend to show up as clogs in pipes, stuck valves, or finished goods that fail customer testing — lessons anyone in production supply will nod along with.
