Bulk industrial chemicals  ·  Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
+91 99255 22674  ·  info@velorachemicals.com  ·  CIN U46691GJ2025PTC164019

Bulk supply · Alkalis & Bases

Caustic Soda Lye NaOH

Membrane-grade caustic soda lye supplied by road tanker and drum across India, and in flexitank or ISO tank on export. Price and availability confirmed in writing against your delivery point and monthly tonnage.

Also searched as: sodium hydroxide price, NaOH price, liquid caustic soda, sodium hydroxide lye, lye 48%

What we supply

Caustic Soda Lye in bulk, against a written specification.

Caustic soda lye is the workhorse alkali of Indian process industry — it mercerises cotton, scours fabric, digests pulp, saponifies soap, precipitates metals out of effluent and corrects pH almost everywhere else. Velora supplies it as membrane-grade lye, the standard commercial quality for these duties.

Because lye is bought by the tonne and moved by tanker, the practical questions are rarely about the molecule. They are about whether your bay can take a 20 MT load, whether the line is traced, and whether the certificate reaches your QC team the day the tanker does. That is the part we take responsibility for.

Grades & packing

What goes out, and how it is packed.

These are the formats we most commonly supply. Other concentrations, packing sizes and pack marking are available — ask at the enquiry stage.

ProductFormulaGradeHSNPacking
Caustic Soda LyeNaOH48% membrane grade2815 12 00Road tanker · 250 kg drum

No tested values are published here. The certificate of analysis for the batch actually loaded travels with the despatch documents, and a representative COA and the safety data sheet go out before any commercial discussion.

Applications

Where caustic soda lye earns its place.

Textiles & dyeing

Mercerising and scouring cotton; pH correction in dye baths. Dye houses care about iron pickup, so the source matters more than the headline strength.

Soap & detergent

Saponification of oils and fats, and neutralisation of LABSA in detergent slurry.

Pulp & paper

Kraft pulping and the caustic extraction stage of bleaching.

Effluent & water treatment

Neutralising acidic streams and precipitating dissolved metals ahead of clarification.

Alumina & metals

Bauxite digestion, and degreasing and etching lines.

Chemicals & pharma

A base reagent across intermediates, and for scrubber liquor in acid-gas systems.

Handling & storage

What to get right before the load arrives.

Worth reading before you order rather than after. If any of this is a problem at your site, tell us — it usually changes what we would quote.

Site notes

  • Lye at 48% strength crystallises at around 4 °C (50% material at around 12 °C), so winter movements into northern India normally need traced or insulated lines and a heated storage tank. If your site has neither, a lower-strength dilution is usually the cheaper answer than heating — tell us the ambient range and we will quote the strength that will actually unload.
  • Carbon steel is standard for 48% lye at ambient temperature. If you heat or trace the tank to stop winter crystallisation, hold it below about 45–50 °C. Hot caustic in as-welded carbon steel causes stress-corrosion cracking, and that fails as a through-wall crack rather than as gradual thinning. Above that temperature you need stress-relieved (post-weld heat treated) steel, 304L or a nickel alloy. If you are planning a heated tank, tell us before you build it.
  • Aluminium, zinc, tin and galvanised fittings are never suitable — caustic attacks them and generates hydrogen.
  • If you dilute lye on site, always add the lye into the water with agitation, never water into concentrated lye. Both dilution and the neutralisation of acidic effluent are strongly exothermic, and adding water into a drum or small tank of 48% lye can bring it close to boiling and eject hot caustic. Control the rate and provide cooling.
  • It is a Class 8 corrosive. Tankers travel with a TREM card and the driver briefed; your unloading crew needs face shield, apron and gauntlets, and an eyewash within reach.

Price

What actually moves the caustic soda lye price.

Lye is priced off the chlor-alkali cycle, and that moves with power tariffs and with what is happening to chlorine demand — caustic and chlorine come out of the same cell, so a weak chlorine market usually means firmer caustic. On top of the ex-works number, your landed price turns on distance from the plant, whether you take a full tanker or drums, the strength you need, and your payment terms. That is why no honest supplier publishes a per-kg rate for lye.

Questions

Caustic Soda Lye — what buyers ask us.

What is the difference between caustic soda lye and flakes?

Chemically nothing — flakes are lye that has been concentrated and solidified. Lye is cheaper per tonne of NaOH and far easier to dose if you have tank storage and a pump. Flakes make sense when you have no bulk storage, when the volume is small, or when you need to ship it a long way, because you are not paying freight on water.

What tanker size do you supply?

Road tankers are typically 20–25 MT depending on the route and the vehicle. If your bay or tank cannot take a full load, say so at the enquiry stage — part-loads are sometimes possible when we can consolidate with another consignment going the same way.

Do you supply caustic soda lye for export?

Yes, in ISO tanks and flexitanks out of Mundra and Nhava Sheva, with the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and certificate of origin prepared for the destination port.

How is the sodium hydroxide price quoted for lye?

Caustic soda lye is quoted per tonne of solution or per tonne on a 100% NaOH basis — always check which one you are comparing, because a 48% lye price and a flakes price are not like for like. Our written offer states the basis, the concentration, freight and validity, so two quotes can be compared properly.

Where can I buy sodium hydroxide in bulk?

Send the grade, monthly tonnage and delivery point to our sales desk in Ahmedabad. We supply 48% lye by road tanker and drum across India and on export, sourced from qualified membrane-cell producers.

What is the HSN code for caustic soda lye (liquid sodium hydroxide)?

The HSN code for caustic soda lye (liquid sodium hydroxide) is 2815 12 00 (Sodium hydroxide in aqueous solution (soda lye)). Source: the Indian customs tariff as listed in the GST HSN directory, checked September 2026.

Related lines

Often bought alongside.

Sourcing desk

Tell us the grade, tonnage and delivery point.

You will get a written offer for caustic soda lye with landed price, packing, lead time and a stated validity — not a price that changes on the phone.