Buying Guides
Difference Between Industrial and Laboratory Chemicals
Caustic soda is caustic soda — until you read the certificate. Industrial grade is specified around the main assay: 98% NaOH, with impurity limits loose enough for effluent neutralisation or soap making. Laboratory grade (LR, and above it AR) is specified around what ISN'T there: iron in single-digit ppm, chlorides controlled, heavy metals certified — because in analysis, the impurity IS the interference.
Price follows purification, not the molecule
Each purification and certification step — recrystallisation, tighter raw material, batch analysis, controlled packing — adds cost. That's why the same salt can differ 5–10× in price across grades. Paying that premium for a pickling tank is waste; skipping it in a QC titration invalidates results.
A practical selection rule
Ask what failure looks like. If a stray 100 ppm of iron would ruin the outcome (analysis, plating bath, food, pharma), buy the certified grade. If it wouldn't (cleaning, neutralising, bulk processing), industrial grade with a COA is the professional choice, not a compromise.
JSM Traders stocks both worlds — industrial bulk and LR/AR lab packs — and will tell you honestly when the cheaper grade is the right one.
Frequently Asked Questions
You're paying for purification steps and certified analysis of what ISN'T in the bottle — trace metals, chlorides, sulphates — not for more of the chemical itself.
Need this chemistry for your process?
JSM Traders supplies the products discussed here with COA and MSDS, PAN India. Quotations within working hours.
