1) What is paraformaldehyde used for? Paraformaldehyde is a white, crystalline (sand-like) solid with an odor of Formaldehyde. It is used as anagricultural chemical, fungicide, bactericide, analytical reagent and wood preservative. 2)What is another name for paraformaldehyde? Paraformaldehyde is the informal name of polyoxymethylene, a polymer of formaldehyde (also known by many other and confusing names, such as'paraform', 'formagene', 'para', 'polyoxymethane').