Methanol CH₃OH

Site notes

• Methanol is toxic by swallowing, by skin absorption and by breathing the vapour (GHS Acute Tox. 3 by all three routes, and STOT SE 1 — it causes damage to organs). Skin contact is a real exposure route, not a minor one. Nitrile gloves, chemical goggles, and vapour control wherever it is decanted or transferred.
• Suspected methanol ingestion is a medical emergency even when the person appears fine. The toxic metabolites take hours to build, and by the time vision is affected the injury may be permanent. Do not induce vomiting. Get the person to hospital immediately and tell the clinicians it is methanol — there are specific antidotes, and treatment is time-critical.
• For skin contact, remove contaminated clothing and wash the area with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes. For eye contact, rinse with running water for at least 15 minutes, holding the eyelids open. Seek medical attention after either, and after any significant vapour exposure.
• It is a highly flammable liquid, UN 1230, Class 3 with a subsidiary 6.1 toxic risk, packing group II. The flash point is around 11 °C, so it gives off an ignitable vapour at ordinary Indian ambient temperatures — every day of the year. Bond and earth all transfer equipment, use non-sparking tools, and keep ignition sources out of the transfer area.
• The flame burns with almost no visible colour in daylight. A methanol fire can be burning in front of you and not be seen; train the people who handle it on that, and use alcohol-resistant foam rather than ordinary AFFF, which the alcohol breaks down.
• It mixes with water in all proportions, so a spill spreads and dilutes rather than sitting still — contain it before it reaches a drain. Store in a cool, well-ventilated, bunded area away from oxidisers and acids.
• Methanol in Gujarat is licensed under the Gujarat Methyl Alcohol Rules, 1981, made under section 143(1) of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949: import, possession and sale run on M.A. class licences, and a licensed dealer may sell only to a holder of a valid M.A. licence. Methanol is not listed in the schedule to the Gujarat Poisons (Regulation and Control of Sale and Use of Acid) Rules, 2014, and the Gujarat High Court has held that the Poisons Act and the Methyl Alcohol Rules operate in different spheres. The position is moving — in September 2026 the Supreme Court struck down Maharashtra’s methanol colourant, bitterant and blanket licensing rules as disproportionate — so we confirm the current licence position at both ends before quoting rather than working from what was true last year.
• That licence requirement binds the seller as much as the buyer. Velora holds the M.A. licence required to supply methanol, and our licence particulars are provided with the quotation. We quote only where the position can be documented at both ends, against an end-use declaration from an identified buyer. We do not quote undocumented buyers, we do not supply into any beverage or potable channel, and we will decline an order rather than let this material reach a supply chain we cannot see the end of.