Cashew nut shell liquid is a co-product of the cashew nut industry and is sourced primarily from South America and Asia. It is a dark liquid comprised of different unsaturated alkenyl substituted phenols.

The Cashew nut shell liquid is the by-product of Cashew industry. The oil is being extracted from the cashew nut shell, which is a pericarp fluid of the cashew nut. This is purely a natural product and no chemical is added.

The dual phenolic/alkenyl nature of CNSL makes it a potential natural raw material for the synthesis of water-resistant resins and polymers. Since natural variation in the chemical composition of plant oils can be a limiting factor in there wholesale use by the chemical industry CNSL has found only a small market as a component in the manufacture of friction dusts. To limit this variation, chemical modification of the alkenyl tail by reductive ozonolysis was thought to be an ideal strategy, to create a range of similar reactive monomers through cleavage of the double bonds into aldehydes. Furthermore, since the phenolic moiety, under both alkali and acid conditions, is highly reactive towards electrophiles such as aldehydes, no further cross-linking agent would be needed, as both functionalities would be inherent in every new molecule. The remaining alkyl aldehyde groups would increase the reactivity of the system towards cross-linking and impart a high degree of hydrophobicity.

 The CNSL has got wide range of applicability for making raw materials for automobile Brake lining such as Liquid Resin, PF Resin and Cashew Friction Dust (CFD). The CNSL is also used for manufacture of paint and varnishes, Epoxy Resins and Oil soluble Resins, Surface active agent, Synthetic Rubber & Wax compounding and Foundry Resins and so on.