1

The effect of efforts to reduce atmospheric pollution was felt by the bromine industry in 1971 as evidenced by a significant reduction in consumption of ethylene dibromide, a gasoline additive. This loss

was offset, however, by a gain in the production of other bromine compounds; the gross amount of bromine compounds sold was virtually the same as that of 1970, 384,300,000 pounds.

Over the past 10 years the bromine industry has expanded at an average rate of 7.2 percent per year. Between 1970 and 1971, however, the rate of increase was only 1.8 percent. The total 1971 U.S. production for bromine was 355,946,000 pounds, an increase of 6,198,000 pounds over that of 1970.

This reduced rate of increase was almost entirely due to a lowered production of ethylene dibromide, a scavenger for antiknock lead additives in gasoline. Whereas ethylene dibromide production had been increasing in the past at a annual 6-percent rate, the change between 1970 and 1971 was a loss of 4.1 percent. Actual 1971 production of ethylene dibromide was 279,191,000 pounds, compared with 291,002,000 pounds in 1970. There was a corresponding decrease in the use of tetraethyl lead and tetramethyl lead in gasoline in spite of a 4.6percent increase in total gasoline usage. These reductions in the use of gasoline additives may be attributed to the Clean Air Act of 1970, which requires a 90-percent reduction in harmful emissions from automotive exhausts by the year 1975. The amount of elemental bromine sold nonmanufacturers of bromine

to

com

Table 1 contains the salient statistics for bromine production divided into the categories "sold" and "used." The bromine classified as "sold" includes that which is bought by customers outside the manufacturing industry such as swimming pool operators, chemical supply houses, and the like, who do not generally convert the bromine into compounds. The bromine classified as "used" is that which is retained within the bromine manufacturing industry for conversion to compounds. Except for processing losses and inventory variations, the bromine labeled "used" in table 1 is the same bromine that appears in table 2 as the bromine contained in compounds.

Table 2 deals exclusively with the manufactured compounds of bromine that are produced for the market.

At the beginning of the year there were 11 bromine-producing plants in three States operated by seven companies. Two of these plants extracted elemental bromine only for sale and did not produce compounds. Two bromine-compound manufacturing plants, not included on the producers list, made compounds only from purchased bromine. Arkansas continued to be the top ranking State in bromine production with a 7-percent increase over that of 1970, and Michigan had a loss of about 9 percent.

Cambridge, Mass. was chosen as the site for the study of atmospheric pollution in a densely populated area. The study revealed an average total bromine concentration of 68 micrograms per cubic meter. Over twothirds of this was in the form of particulate bromine and the remainder gaseous. The bromine in the air displayed a good correlation with the lead contamination in the air, but at a generally lower ratio of bromine to lead than the original ratio of these two elements in gasoline antiknock compounds.4

A method of selective laboratory bromi

nation of carbohydrates and derivatives of nucleic acid has been devised. End products of this reaction, pyrimidine nucleosides, are well-known antiviral and antitumor agents.5

2 Chemical Age. Dead Sea Works First Royalties Paid. V. 103, Nov. 5, 1971, p. 4.

3 U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv, Israel. State Department Airgram A-389, Oct. 29, 1971.

4 Environmental Science Technology. Gaseous Bromine and Particulate Lead, Vanadium, and Bromine in a Polluted Atmosphere. V. 6, No. 1, January 1972, pp. 68-71.

Chemical Engineering News. Bromination Gives Specific Nucleosides. Vol. 49, No. 15, Apr. 12, 1971, p. 32.

The cadmium market remained depressed in 1971 and a price cut came into effect at midyear. In spite of a 16-percent decline in metal output, stocks continued to build as a result of a 40-percent increase in imports, an 82-percent decrease in exports, and increased shipments. Yearend 1971 stocks totaled 5,313,000 pounds, an increase of 11 percent during the year.

Cadmium is recovered as a byproduct in the processing of zinc ore, and the closing of 15 zinc mines and four plants producing slab zinc in the United States decreased the domestic capability to produce (mine and smelter) cadmium. A zinc roasting plant which produced byproduct cadmium source materials was also closed during the year. Despite the opening of the Blackcloud zinc mine in Colorado and the expansion of the Balmat mine in New York, a net loss of domestic production of cadmium resulted. Greater dependence on imports of cadmium metal will be necessary, at least over the short term.

Results for the first quarter of 1971 showed gains in metal production and shipments over the final quarter of 1970; metal imports declined as did exports. However, during the second and third quarters of 1971, shipments and metal production declined or leveled off, while stocks increased. The fourth quarter showed substantial revival in metal production and shipments with declining imports.

Effective July 26, 1971, the price was reduced from $2.25 to $1.50 per pound in 1-ton lots, and from $2.30 to $1.55 per pound in lots less than 1 ton.

Legislation and Government Programs.—

During 1971, only 1,000 pounds of cadmium was sold from the national stockpile; sales were authorized under Public Law 91-314 of July 10, 1970. The excess remaining in the stockpile for disposal amounted to 4,147,806 pounds valued at $9,333,000. At yearend a total of 10,147,904 pounds of cadmium valued at $15,222,000 remained in the stockpile.

Effective August 16, 1971, stockpile sales of ingots and slabs, f.o.b. storage location, were annuounced at $1.38 per pound in lots of 1 ton or more, and at $1.43 in lots of less than 1 ton. Sticks, sold on the same basis, were valued at $1.50 and $1.53 per pound.

Early in the year, the Department of the Treasury investigated charges that cadmium from Japan was being sold at less than fair value in U.S. markets within the meaning of the Antidumping Act of 1921. At yearend, notice was given that there were reasonable grounds for such charges, and customs officers were directed to withhold appraisement of cadmium from Japan. Further investigation of possible price differential and injury to the U.S. industry continued.

The stockpile objective, set by the Office of Emergency Preparedness, remained at 6 million pounds.

The Office of Minerals Exploration, U.S. Geological Survey, provides to eligible participants, up to 50 percent of allowable costs of exploration for cadmium. Cadmium producers are granted a depletion allowance of 22 percent on domestic production and 14 percent on foreign production.