Essential oils & personal care
Cashew nut shell liquid
Cashew nut shell liquid is the dark caustic oil held in the honeycomb of the cashew shell. It is a by-product of nut processing and a genuine industrial feedstock, used in friction materials, resins and coatings. Whether it was extracted hot or cold decides which grade you have.
How it leaves the country.
- Technical CNSL
- Recovered with heat during shell roasting. The heat converts the dominant acid, so this grade is chemically different from the cold-extracted one. Most commercial volume.
- Natural CNSL
- Cold extracted, retaining the original acid composition. A different feedstock for different downstream chemistry and less widely available.
- Cardanol
- Distilled from CNSL, and the fraction most downstream chemistry actually wants. A refined product rather than a raw one.
- Residue and pitch
- The heavy fraction after distillation, used in friction and construction applications.
How it is graded.
A chemical purchase. Every specification line is a number from a laboratory, and a supplier who describes it in adjectives is not a supplier for this material.
- Grade
- Natural or technical. They differ in composition rather than in quality, and buying the wrong one means the downstream chemistry does not work.
- Moisture
- Water in the liquid affects both the reaction chemistry and the weight you paid for. Specified as a maximum.
- Viscosity
- How it handles and how it processes. Measured at a stated temperature rather than quoted loosely.
- Ash and insolubles
- Shell fragments and dirt carried through from extraction. It is a cleanliness measure and it tells you about the plant.
- Iodine value and acid number
- Standard chemical measures that a formulator specifies against. Both belong on the certificate for the shipped lot.
- Polymerisation
- The material darkens and thickens with heat and age. A drum stored badly in the tropics is a different material by the time it arrives.
How it is packed.
- Steel drums
- New or certified-clean lined drums. Reused drums with residues from something else is a real source of off-specification material.
- Skin irritant
- The liquid is caustic and causes burns and sensitisation. Handling instructions and a safety data sheet are not paperwork here, they are the point.
- Heat in transit
- A dry container crossing the tropics accelerates polymerisation. Stow matters and the age of the material at loading matters more.
- Classification
- Establish the transport classification for the specific material before booking, because it drives the packaging and the declaration.
Where it grows.
East Java
Java
Cashew processing capacity with the volume to make liquid recovery worthwhile.
South Sulawesi
Sulawesi
A major cashew growing and processing area, and where a good deal of Indonesian shell arises.
West Nusa Tenggara
Lesser Sunda
Cashew growing with processing that mostly serves the nut trade.
Bali
Bali
Cashew processing on a smaller scale, tied to the Karangasem growing areas.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Certificate of analysis
- Grade, moisture, viscosity, ash, iodine value and acid number on the shipped lot.
- Safety data sheet
- A skin irritant and a sensitiser. The sheet drives handling at every point in the chain.
- Dangerous goods declaration
- Where the classification of the specific material requires it, established before booking.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and the preference scheme in force with Indonesia.
Questions buyers ask.
What is it actually used for?
Friction materials, phenolic resins, coatings, surfactants and a range of specialty chemistry, largely through cardanol distilled from it. It is an industrial feedstock rather than a consumer product.
Natural or technical grade?
Whichever your process needs, and they are not interchangeable. The heat used to recover technical grade changes the dominant acid, so downstream chemistry behaves differently.
Is it hazardous?
It is caustic and it causes skin burns and sensitisation. Anyone handling it needs the safety data sheet and proper protection, and that applies to your warehouse as well as to the plant.
Why does age matter?
Because it polymerises with heat and time, so a drum that sat in the sun before loading is not the material described in the certificate. Ask when it was produced rather than only what it tested at.
What does your service cost?
Five per cent of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory. A factory audit starts at $250 depending on location. We work with orders from $10,000 per shipment.
Tell us what you need.
Give us the specification and the destination port. We come back with producer options and an indicative price. Our fee is 5 % of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory.