Trisodium phosphate exists in 2 forms, Na3PO4 and Na3PO4‧12H2O. It has 2 grades: food and industry. It is easy to descend. Its aqueous solution is alkaline. The pH value of its 1% aqueous solution is 12.1.

Trisodium phosphate is usually applied in producing water-softening agent, boiler cleaning agent, metal rust preventives, and syrup purification agent. It is also popular in the fields of commodity chemical engineering, electroplating and phosphating, fixation of printing and dyestuff, enamel flux, tannery, derosination, and so on.

In food industry, trisodium phosphate functions to improve the quality. For instance, it keeps water in meat products in order to decrease the loss of nutrition from the meat and preserve the tenderness of meat. It is also applied in food handling as emulsifier, nutritional supplement, and quality improver. It is the raw material to formulate alkaline water for pasta, granulated sugar refinery, and α starch. It is also an ingredient in the detergent to clean bottles and jars for food storage.