Product Overview
Aluminum Sulfate 50% is a technical grade aqueous alum solution (CAS 10043-01-3) offered in pack sizes from 1 quart bottles up to 275 and 330 gallon totes. It is the workhorse coagulant of the water treatment world and a long-standing sizing chemical in paper manufacturing. Because it arrives already in solution, it feeds directly through metering pumps — no dissolving tanks, no dust handling, no waiting on a dry alum makedown.
This page is written for the people who actually dose it: water and wastewater treatment operators, paper mill wet-end technicians, textile dyehouse supervisors, and plant purchasing teams buying by the drum or tote. Shipping and handling guidance here is reviewed by Andre Taki, DOT Hazmat Specialist.
Why This Concentration
A 50% solution is the standard commercial strength for liquid alum. The trade-off is straightforward: you pay to ship water, but you gain a product that goes straight into a chemical feed system. For continuous-dose operations — a clarifier train, a paper machine, a dye bath — that convenience wins. Facilities running lab jar tests or intermittent pilot work often dilute down from this strength rather than sourcing a weaker solution.
The concentration also drives the handling picture. This is an acidic corrosive liquid, classified in Packing Group III (per 49 CFR 172.101) — the lowest-severity corrosive tier, but still a material that demands compatible containment and real PPE. Technical grade is the designation most industrial water treatment, paper, and textile buyers request; buyers with purity-critical requirements should review the lot COA and technical data sheet against their own specification before committing.
Chemical Profile
Aluminum Sulfate 50% is a clear to slightly amber, odorless liquid. As a 50% w/w aqueous solution it has a density of 1.33 at 20 °C — noticeably heavier than water, which matters when you size day tanks and secondary containment. It is miscible with water in all proportions, so in-plant dilution is a simple blend-down. Vapor pressure is essentially zero; this is not a fuming material. The underlying salt is aluminum sulfate, formula Al2(SO4)3, molecular weight 342.2, CAS 10043-01-3. Buyers may know it by the common synonym alum.
Industrial Applications
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Water and wastewater treatment. Alum is a primary coagulant. Dosed into raw water or wastewater, it destabilizes suspended solids and colloids so they agglomerate into floc that settles or filters out. It is the reason this product's buyers speak in terms of jar tests, floc quality, and clarifier performance.
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Paper manufacturing. On the wet end, alum works in rosin sizing systems and pitch control, helping fix sizing agents to fiber and manage anionic trash in the furnish.
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Textile dyeing. Dyehouses use aluminum sulfate as a mordant, fixing certain dye classes to fiber to improve color retention.
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Construction. Aluminum sulfate appears in concrete and mortar formulations, where formulators use it to modify set and workability characteristics.
Performance in any of these processes depends on pH and the other ions present in your system — run your own jar tests or trials at your operating conditions before scaling a dose.
Handling & Storage
The signal word is Danger. The governing hazard statements are H290, may be corrosive to metals, and H314, causes severe skin burns and eye damage (per the product's GHS classification). Treat it accordingly: chemical splash goggles or a face shield, chemically resistant gloves, and an apron or suit for transfer operations. This is an acidic solution that attacks common metals — keep it in compatible containment such as HDPE, and keep pumps, fittings, and feed lines out of bare carbon steel.
Store cool, out of direct sunlight, and away from strong bases, which react with acidic solutions. The material is stable in storage in a closed, compatible container; its essentially zero vapor pressure means it is not building headspace pressure or off-gassing in normal warehouse conditions. Ventilate transfer areas as a matter of good practice.
Hazmat & Shipping
This product ships as regulated hazardous material. The proper shipping name is Corrosive liquid, acidic, inorganic, n.o.s. (Aluminum sulfate solution), UN3264, Hazard Class 8, Packing Group III (per 49 CFR 172.101). Our Taylor, Texas team packs Class 8 liquids daily: UN-spec packaging, correct marks and labels, and shipping papers prepared to the regulation. Receivers should be prepared to accept a corrosive-labeled shipment under their own site procedures.
Documentation
A Safety Data Sheet ships with every order and is available in English, Spanish, French, and Japanese. A lot-specific Certificate of Analysis is available for the material you receive, and a technical data sheet is available for engineering and specification review. If your compliance team needs documents before purchase, ask — we would rather send paperwork early than hold up your receiving dock.
Why Buy from Alliance Chemical
We offer this product across the full industrial range — 1 quart samples through 5, 15, and 55 gallon drums to 275 and 330 gallon totes — so a treatment plant can trial with a jar-test quantity and scale to tote deliveries on the same technical grade material, with SDS, TDS, and lot COA documentation at every size. Alliance Chemical has operated since 1998 and has served more than 55,000 customers from our Taylor, Texas warehouse. Every corrosive shipment goes out under handling procedures reviewed by Andre Taki, DOT Hazmat Specialist.
Related Reading
The late-September 2026 western Lake Erie bloom revives an old question. The 1970s detergent phosphate bans worked: in 1967 detergents supplied 25 of the 35.7 million pounds of US municipal phosphorus to the lake. Trisodium phosphate was never the main detergent phosphate, it is not federally banned, and the EPA now attributes 90 percent of the Maumee phosphorus load to nonpoint sources. Lake Erie Is Green Again. Did the Phosphate Ban Fail?.
