White Spirit (Mineral Spirits, Mineral Turpentine)

Petroleum paint solvent by type, aromatic content and flash point, in drums, IBCs, ISO tanks and bulk

White spirit is a clear, colourless petroleum solvent: a mixture of mainly C7 to C12 aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons boiling between about 130 and 230 °C, used above all to thin oil-based paints and varnishes and to clean brushes and metal parts. It is the same product that North America calls mineral spirits and Australia, New Zealand and South Africa call mineral turpentine, and Stoddard solvent is the United States name for the common type. It is a hydrocarbon, not an alcohol, and has no connection with drinking spirits. Refiners make it from a distillation cut, and the treatment of that cut gives the type. Type 1 is hydrodesulphurised and holds under 25 per cent aromatics. Type 2 is solvent-extracted, with under 5 per cent. Type 3 is hydrogenated, with under 1 per cent, and is the dearomatised grade sold as odourless white spirit. Each type comes in three flash-point grades: low flash at 21 to 30 °C, regular at 31 to 54 °C and high flash above 55 °C, with relative density at 15 °C rising from about 0.765 to 0.795 across the three.

The standards a contract names are BS 245:1976, which defines Type A below 25 per cent aromatics by volume and Type B at 25 to 50 per cent, ASTM D235, which covers four types of mineral spirits with aromatic classes A to C, and DIN 51632 in Germany. Producer sheets show what that means in practice: a low aromatic white spirit of C9 to C12 hydrocarbons with a typical density of 783 kg/m³ at 15 °C, a boiling range of 155 to 210 °C and a flash point of 41 to 42 °C; a BS 245 Type A product boiling at 150 to 200 °C with a flash point of 38 to 40 °C. A review by the World Health Organization put about 60 per cent of western European consumption in paints, lacquers and varnishes; the rest goes to degreasing, cleaning and dry cleaning. At sea, low aromatic white spirit is a MARPOL Annex II cargo carried in chemical tankers. It is declared under HS 2710.12, and the EU and UK tariff line for white spirit is 2710 12 21. CBIL brokers white spirit between a named refiner or solvent producer and a named buyer, against the producer's certificate of analysis and SGS or Intertek inspection at loading, in steel drums, IBCs, ISO tank containers and bulk parcels on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the type or standard, the aromatic limit, the flash point and boiling range, the pack and the volume.

See also: Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) · Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) · Bitumen paint: a white spirit based coating

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.