What is the use of formic acid?
The principal use of formic acid is as a preservative and antibacterial agent in livestock feed. When sprayed on fresh hay or other silage, it arrests certain decay processes and causes the feed to retain its nutritive value longer, and so it is widely used to preserve winter feed for cattle. In the poultry industry, it is sometimes added to feed to kill salmonella bacteria. Other uses: It is used to process organic latex (sap) into raw rubber. Beekeepers use formic acid as a miticide against the Tracheal (Acarapis woodi) mite and the Varroa mite. It is of minor importance in the textile industry and for the tanning of leather. Some formate esters are artificial flavorings or perfumes. It is the active ingredient in some brands of household limescale remover. It is used in laboratories as a solvent modifier for HPLC separations of proteins and peptides, especially when the sample is being prepared for mass spectrometry analysis.
