The daily growing needs of the national economy of Turkmenistan in various types of chemical products determine the practical need for systematic and comprehensive use of industrial groundwater. In Turkmenistan it is the main source of bromine.
In this article, Allaberdi Ilyasov, a scientific observer of online media CentralAsia.news, a well-known Turkmen scientist, and doctor of technical sciences spoke about the valuable chemical element of the Periodic Table, its significance, and its use in many areas of human life.
Industrial groundwater
Industrial groundwater, or hydromineral raw materials, includes groundwater and brines, the quantity and quality of which allow, under specific hydrogeological conditions, to conduct cost-effective extraction of these waters and extract useful products from them using existing technical means using modern technological processes.
History
BROME (lat. Bromum), Br — a chemical element of group VII of the periodic system of Mendeleev, refers to halogens, atomic number 35, atomic mass 79.904; red-brown liquid with a strong unpleasant odor. Bromine was discovered in 1826 by the French chemist Antoine Balard while studying the brines of the Mediterranean salt pans. The first known use of bromine compounds was in the production of purple dye. It was mined as far back as the second millennium BC from murex mollusks that accumulate bromine from seawater.
In the 19th century, photography and medicine were the main uses for bromine compounds. Silver bromide came into use as a photosensitive material around 1840. Modern photographic materials based on it allow you to take pictures with a shutter speed of 7-10 seconds.
For the manufacture of a photographic film based on silver bromide, this salt is synthesized in an aqueous solution of gelatin, while the precipitated crystals of silver bromide are evenly distributed throughout the volume of the solution.
Bromine salts have proved to be very effective drugs for the treatment of many nervous diseases. The medical use of potassium bromide as a sedative and anticonvulsant in the treatment of epilepsy began in 1857. At that time, aqueous solutions of potassium and sodium bromide were collectively known as bromine.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a new field of application for bromine opened up. With the spread of automobiles, there was a need for large quantities of cheap gasoline, however, the existing oil industry at that time could not produce the required volumes of high-octane fuel.
To improve the quality of fuel — to reduce its ability to detonate in the engine — in 1921, the American engineer Thomas Midgley proposed introducing an additional component, tetraethyl lead, into gasoline. This additive proved to be very effective, but its use has created a new problem — lead deposits in engines. To avoid their formation, this component was dissolved in bromine hydrocarbons — 1,2-dibromoethane and ethyl bromide, the resulting mixture was called «ethyl liquid».
In the middle of the last century, most of the bromine produced — 75% — was spent on the production of ethyl liquid. Now the use of ethyl liquid does not meet modern environmental safety requirements and its global production is declining. Now the main area of bromine use is the production of flame retardants from 40% of the world’s bromine consumption.
Flame retardants are substances that protect materials of organic origin from the ignition. They are used for the impregnation of fabrics, wood, and plastic products, and the production of non-combustible paints.
Bromine in the human body
The content of bromine in a human body weighing 70 kg is 260 mg. Among the inorganic anions that make up the blood, the bromide ion ranks fifth in quantity after chloride, bicarbonate, phosphate, and sulfate; its concentration in blood plasma is in the range of 20–150 µmol/L. Bromine is found in the blood, brain, liver, and kidneys. Most of it is in the brain. Physiologist Ivan Pavlov said: «Humanity should be happy that it has such a precious drug for the nervous system as bromine».
Within nervous diseases, the amount of bromine in the blood and brain decreases. Bromides, widely used as medicines, upon entering the body, decompose with the release of bromine ions, which do not suppress excitation processes but enhance inhibition processes, that is, help restore the correct ratio of these processes in the brain. This is the healing effect of bromine preparations on the nervous system.
The physiological role of bromine and its compounds in our body is also manifested in its action on the thyroid gland. Iodine is required for the formation of thyroid hormones. Bromine ions, on the other hand, entering the body for a long time, prevent the accumulation of iodine ions in the thyroid gland and thereby inhibit its activity.
Bromine enters the body mainly with foods of plant origin, as well as with the use of bromine-containing mineral waters. The fewer chlorides and other salts such water contains, the more pronounced the effect of bromine on the human body. With food, 0.8–24 mg is supplied daily, and 1/5 of it accumulates in the human body.
Specific product
When working with bromine, protective clothing, gas masks, and gloves should be used. With a concentration of bromine in the air at 0,001%, there is irritation of the mucous membranes, dizziness, and at higher concentrations — spasms of the respiratory tract, and suffocation. In case of poisoning with bromine vapor, the victim should be immediately removed to fresh air.
Liquid bromine in contact with the skin causes painful burns. Due to the high chemical activity and toxicity of both bromine vapor and liquid bromine, it should be stored in a glass, tightly sealed thick-walled container.
Vials with bromine are placed in containers with sand, which protects the flasks from destruction when shaken. Due to the high density of bromine, bottles with it should never be taken by the throat. The throat can come off, and then the poisonous liquid will be on the floor. To neutralize the spilled bromine on the surface, it must be immediately covered with a slurry of wet soda.
Application and production
Bromine is used quite widely. It is the starting product for obtaining several bromine salts and organic derivatives. Large amounts of bromine, as noted above, are used to produce ethyl bromide and dibromoethane, components of an ethyl liquid added to gasoline to increase their knock resistance.
Liquid bromine is an ideal reagent for methane activation, providing maximum carbon conversion efficiency in the synthesis of heavier molecules.
Specialists of the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan carried out many years of research work, as a result, the presence of a huge stock of such a chemical element as bromine in Turkmenistan was confirmed.
The huge reserve of bromine in Turkmenistan can be used as an ideal reagent and catalyst in the oil and gas processing industry with minimal capital investment, energy costs, and a high rate of return.
A significant part of bromine, for example, in the USA — 24%, in the form of calcium, sodium, and zinc bromides is used to make drilling fluids that are pumped into wells to increase the volume of oil produced.
Up to 12% of bromine goes to the synthesis of pesticides and insecticides used in agriculture and to protect wooden products.
Elemental bromine and its compounds are used in water treatment and water treatment processes.
The initial raw material for the production of bromine is seawater, lake and underground brines and lye from potash production, containing bromine in the form of a bromide ion. Bromine is isolated with chlorine and distilled off from the solution with water vapor or air. Steam stripping is carried out in columns made of granite, ceramics, or other material resistant to bromine.
One of the most promising ways to improve the technology for producing bromine and its salts is the use of electrochemical methods for producing chlorine. Various variants of such processes are proposed, in particular, direct anodic oxidation of bromine brine is considered one of the varieties of this method.
Bromine, therefore, is an indispensable component in the production of various sectors of the world’s economies, and quite a profitable export product.
Today, the chemical industry of Turkmenistan has been assigned a strategic role in solving the problems of transitioning the national economy to a non-raw material development path, increasing the production of various competitive, import-substituting, and export-oriented products to meet domestic needs, as well as wide demand abroad.
