Acrylamide, first synthesized in 1949, is an odourless solid that takes the form of either flake-like crystals or a 30-50 per cent aqueous   solution.

The primary use of acrylamide, accounting for about 90 percent of all industrial use, is as a chemical intermediate in the production of a type of plastic called polyacrylamide, which has a variety of uses.

For example, the treatment of drinking water in some municipalities may include the removal of suspended particles by "flocculation" with polyacrylamide, or to remove suspended solids from industrial waste water before discharge, reuse, or disposal.

Because the polyacrylamide was once often contaminated with residual acrylamide, both the U.S. and Canada now require a treatment technique to limit levels of acrylamide in drinking water.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration's Consumer Factsheet on Acrylamide, the EPA requires American water suppliers to show that when acrylamide is added to water, the amount of uncoagulated acrylamide is less than 0.5 parts per billion (ppb).

Similarly, the World Health Organization has set a guideline value associated with an excess lifetime cancer risk of 10⁵ is estimated to be 0.5 µg/litre or ppb.

The European Union's Drinking Water Directive has specified a limit value of 0.1 µg/litre or ppb. An eventual maximum contaminant level goal of 0 µg/L has been promulgated by the EPA under the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act.

Acrylamide is also used as a chemical intermediate in the production of N-methylol acrylamide and N-butoxyacrylamide and as a superabsorbent in disposable diapers, medical products, and agricultural products.

Small amounts of acrylamide are also used in the synthesis of dyes, ore processing, adhesives, paper and textile coatings, permanent press fabrics, sugar beet juice clarification, binders for seed coatings and foundry sand, and printing ink emulsion stabilizers.

Acrylamide has also been used in the construction of dam foundations and tunnels.