| Pack | Net weight | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottle / jar | 100 g – 1 kg | Bench screening, pre-formulation, QC reference | Courier shipment; the standard evaluation size |
| HDPE jerrican | 5 kg / 10 kg | Pilot batches, small-scale production, stability trials | Courier or air freight |
| HDPE drum or fibre drum with PE liner | 25 kg | Solids and small-volume liquids | Standard palletised unit for solids |
| Iron drum, 200 L | 160 kg (dicaprylyl ether) | Trial production, single-batch runs | Zinc-plated interior; density 0.81 limits the fill weight |
| Iron drum, 200 L / 55 US gal | 200 kg (glycols, carbonate) | Regular production volumes | Same drum body, higher fill weight because the liquids are denser |
| IBC, 1000 L | 800–1000 kg depending on density | Tonne-scale and repeat production | Needs a pallet truck or forklift at destination |
Why the drum weights differ
A 200 L drum does not hold 200 kg of everything. Dicaprylyl ether has a density of about 0.81 g/cm³, so a full 200 L drum holds roughly 162 kg — we ship it as 160 kg net to leave the normal ullage. The glycols sit close to 0.95–0.97 g/cm³ and dicaprylyl carbonate at about 0.89 g/cm³, so the same drum body carries around 190–200 kg. When a quotation says “one drum”, always confirm the net weight, because the number of drums you need for a tonne of production depends entirely on which product it is.
Solids versus liquids
Liquids ship in HDPE or steel. Solids in our range — 4-bromophenylhydrazine hydrochloride, 4-fluoro-2-methylbenzonitrile, 2-chlorothiophene-5-carboxylic acid — ship in 25 kg fibre drums with a double polyethylene liner, or in 25 kg HDPE drums where the material is hygroscopic or the customer's handling equipment requires a rigid container. If you need a specific inner liner, nitrogen flushing or desiccant, say so on the purchase order; those are handling requirements, not free-form requests.
What is printed on every pack
- Product name, CAS number and batch number
- Net weight and gross weight
- GHS hazard pictograms and signal word where the product is classified
- UN number, proper shipping name and packing group where the product is dangerous goods
- Production date and retest or expiry date
- Manufacturer identification and the storage statement from section 7 of the SDS
Customer-specific labelling can be arranged for repeat orders, provided the labels carry the legally required information and the batch linkage stays intact. We will not relabel a batch as another supplier's product, and we will not print a batch number that does not exist.
Dangerous goods: check section 14, every time
Most liquids in our range ship as non-dangerous goods, which keeps freight simple and inexpensive. The clear exception is 4-bromophenylhydrazine hydrochloride, classified as UN 3261, class 8, packing group II. For every other product the transport classification is stated in section 14 of the SDS, and that section — not this page, and not a forwarder's assumption — is the authoritative statement for booking freight.
If a product is dangerous goods, the practical consequences are an UN-certified pack, a dangerous goods declaration, and either a DG-trained courier service or a sea freight booking with the appropriate stowage. This is worth resolving at quotation stage, because it changes both the cost and the lead time.
Storage and shelf life
All products should be stored in tightly closed containers below 30 °C, away from direct sunlight, ignition sources and strong oxidisers. Dicaprylyl ether benefits from a nitrogen blanket for long-term storage because ethers can slowly form peroxides in contact with air. Shelf life is product-specific: approximately six months for dicaprylyl ether under the recommended conditions, and 24 months for the glycols and the carbonate. The retest date printed on the CoA governs in every case.
If you are buying a drum for a trial that will run over several months, take the retest date into account when you choose the pack size. A 1 kg bottle you finish in a month is a better decision than a 200 kg drum that sits half-used past its retest date.
Freight modes and what they suit
- Courier (1–25 kg): door to door in days, priced per kilogram. The default for evaluation samples.
- Air freight (25–200 kg): faster than sea, cheaper than courier per kilogram, but dangerous goods require a certified handling chain.
- Sea LCL (1–5 t): drums or IBCs on a shared container. The usual choice for a first tonne-scale order.
- Sea FCL (10 t+): full container. Lowest unit freight cost; requires planning around sailing schedules and a destination that can handle a container.
Minimum order and mixed containers
The minimum order quantity is 1 kg for every product in the range, and 100 g packs are available for laboratory screening. Mixed containers are possible: a single LCL shipment can combine, for example, one drum of dicaprylyl ether with two drums of pentylene glycol and a carton of samples. If you are consolidating, tell us the full basket at quotation stage so the packing list and the freight calculation are done once rather than three times.