It is mainly used for antifungal, disinfection and antiseptic, for the production of medicine, dye carriers, plasticizers, spices and food preservatives, as well as for the improvement of the performance of alkyd resin coatings.

Medical use

Benzoic acid can be used to make benzoic salicylic acid ointment. Benzoic salicylic acid ointment is a drug made from benzoic acid and salicylic acid as main raw materials, lanolin and yellow vaseline.

Preservative

Benzoic acid can be used as a preservative in food, feed, latex and toothpaste.Under acidic conditions, it can inhibit molds, yeasts and bacteria, but has weak effect on acid-producing bacteria.The bacteriostatic activity of the molecular state of benzoic acid is higher than that of the ionic state. Therefore, when the pH is less than 4, the bacteriostatic activity is high. The optimum pH value for bacteriostasis is 2.5-4.0, which is generally 4.5-5.0 below the pH value.Because of the low solubility of benzoic acid to water, it is mostly added with appropriate amount of sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate, dissolved in hot water above 90 C, so that it can be converted into sodium benzoate before being added to food.

Fragrance fixative

Benzoic acid can be used as an aroma fixative in fruit juice drinks.It can also be used in chocolate, lemon, orange, berry, nut, preserve and other edible flavors.Because of the small solubility of benzoic acid, it must be fully stirred or dissolved in a small amount of hot water or ethanol when used.When used in concentrated fruit juice for cool drinks, benzoic acid is easily volatilized with water vapor, so its sodium salt is often used.

Chemical Intermediate

Benzoic acid can be used as intermediates in the production of benzoates and phthalates, which are important plasticizers.Bromobenzoic acid can be prepared by bromination of benzoic acid.

Paint additives

Introducing benzoic acid into alkyd resin can make the paint film dry quickly, but it is not as solvent-resistant as styrene.The gloss, hardness and water resistance of the paint film made from modified alkyd resin are improved.It can also be used as a mordant for dyeing and printing.

Daily expenses

Benzoic acid reacts with diethylene glycol, triglycol and dipropylene glycol to produce diethylene glycol diphenyl benzoate (DEDB), triglycol diphenyl benzoate (TEDB) and dipropylene glycol diphenyl benzoate (DPGDB), which are important common resin plasticizers, and are widely used in the production of resins, coatings and adhesives.