About This Product
Cashew nut shell liquid, generally abbreviated CNSL, is extracted from the spongy honeycomb layer inside the shell of the cashew nut, Anacardium occidentale. It carries CAS number 8007-24-7 and is supplied as a dark brown viscous liquid with a sharp odour. Because it comes from the shell rather than the kernel, it is a genuine by-product of cashew nut processing rather than a crop grown for chemical use.
Two commercial forms exist and they are not interchangeable. Natural or cold-extracted CNSL is dominated by anacardic acid, typically around 70 percent, with cardol and a smaller cardanol fraction. Technical CNSL is produced by roasting the shells, which decarboxylates the anacardic acid into cardanol, so technical grade is cardanol-rich. All of these components are alkyl phenols carrying a fifteen-carbon unsaturated side chain, and that side chain is what makes CNSL valuable: it gives derived resins built-in flexibility and heat resistance that a resin from petroleum phenol does not have. The liquid is skin-irritant in the raw state because of its phenolic content and requires appropriate handling.
It is used to manufacture cardanol and CNSL-based phenolic resins, brake and clutch friction materials, foundry core binders, surface coatings, epoxy curing agents, laminates and specialty intermediates.
Bio Green Oleo supplies natural and technical CNSL to specification on anacardic acid and cardanol content, viscosity, moisture, ash and iodine value.
Applications
Indicative price: $1.00–8.50/kg
Indicative bulk guide only. Prices are market-linked and updated regularly - please request a quote for current pricing and volume rates.
Start with the process and specification
- End use and required material or feedstock
- Critical analytical limits and physical form
- Handling temperature, storage and pack format
- Volume, documentation needs and delivery destination
Confirm the evidence before ordering
Grade, origin and certification are confirmed for each proposed source. A vegetable-derived feedstock is not automatically certified sustainable, pharmaceutical grade or suitable for every application; request the evidence needed for your intended use.
Product illustrations show representative material and packaging. The quotation confirms the actual source, grade, pack size and labelling.
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