Buyer guide
What is bacteriostatic water?
A plain-language definition for research buyers: what bacteriostatic water is, what the 0.9% benzyl alcohol does, and how a lot is tested before it ships.
Definition
Bacteriostatic water is sterile water containing 0.9% benzyl alcohol as a preservative. The preservative suppresses bacterial growth in the vial after the seal is broken, which is what separates it from plain sterile water for single-use applications.
Why the preservative matters for multi-dose vials
Once a multi-dose vial is opened it is repeatedly punctured and exposed to the environment. In a preservative-free vial, that exposure ends the usable life of the contents immediately. Bacteriostatic formulation exists precisely so one vial can serve a research workflow across multiple sessions instead of one.
What is in the vial
- —Sterile water as the base
- —0.9% benzyl alcohol as the preservative
- —Nothing else — no buffers, no chelators, no added minerals
How it is quality-tested
A production lot of bacteriostatic water should be released against a defined test panel. At Bac Water Co. every lot is independently tested for sterility (per USP <71>, with 14-day incubation in both fluid thioglycollate and soybean-casein digest media), endotoxin, pH, and benzyl alcohol concentration. The results ship with the lot as a Certificate of Analysis.
Wholesale bacteriostatic water from Bac Water Co.
USP-grade 10 mL and 30 mL vials, 250-vial minimum, volume pricing, and a Certificate of Analysis with every production lot. For research and laboratory use.
