Bismuth production

Antidiarrheal drugs, such as kaoUn-pectin and bismuth products (176,177), impair the absorption of tetracyclines by chelation (see the interaction with antacids in this monograph). 

The most important ores for bismuth production are the sulfide ores of lead and copper, and tin dioxide. The production of metallic bismuth is linked to lead and copper refining. Peru, Japan, Mexico, Bolivia, and Canada are major bismuth producers, while much of the bismuth produced in the United States is obtained as a byproduct in the refining lead, copper, tin, silver, and gold ores. 

The major portion of bismuth is obtained by reprocessing polymetal copper ores and on the refining stage of lead production. Bismuth is extracted by adding Ca and Mg to molten lead. This results in formation of Bi2CaMg2 compound, which is considered as raw material for bismuth production. 

Bismuth is applied in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy as admixture for stainless steel, pig iron and non-ferrous alloys. Alloys of Bi-Pb-Sn-Cd system are known for having 50-70°C and even lower melting temperature. The world bismuth production is given in Table 4.4 [4.2, 4.3, 4.8]. 

TABLE 4.4. WORLD BISMUTH PRODUCTION (tonnes/year)... 

The Problems of Increasing the Overall Bismuth Production and Using the Lead Coolant... 

Taking into accoxmt all mentioned above, use of lead coolant would be justified only if the rates of power capacities increase for the NPPs with the Rls considered were high enough, and expenditures for increasing the annual bismuth production and its cost were put up as much that the increase of specific capital costs of NPP construction would not be economically reasonable. 

The existing scales of metal bismuth production which have been restricted by bismuth usage will limit the rate of introducing the reactors cooled by LBC in NP. That is why after the period of... 

Ojebuoboh, F. Bismuth—Production, properties, and applications. J. Met. April 1992, 46-49. 

Crude lead contains traces of a number of metals. The desilvering of lead is considered later under silver (Chapter 14). Other metallic impurities are removed by remelting under controlled conditions when arsenic and antimony form a scum of lead(II) arsenate and antimonate on the surface while copper forms an infusible alloy which also takes up any sulphur, and also appears on the surface. The removal of bismuth, a valuable by-product, from lead is accomplished by making the crude lead the anode in an electrolytic bath consisting of a solution of lead in fluorosilicic acid. Gelatin is added so that a smooth coherent deposit of lead is obtained on the pure lead cathode when the current is passed. The impurities here (i.e. all other metals) form a sludge in the electrolytic bath and are not deposited on the cathode. 

Arsenic dissolves in concentrated nitric acid forming arsenicfV) acid, H3ASO4, but in dilute nitric acid and concentrated sulphuric acid the main product is the arsenic(III) acid, HjAsOj. The more metallic element, antimony, dissolves to form the (III) oxide Sb O, with moderately concentrated nitric acid, but the (V) oxide Sb205 (structure unknown) with the more concentrated acid. Bismuth, however, forms the salt bismulh(lll) nitrate Bi(N03)3. 5H,0. 

Gr. aktis, aktinos, beam or ray). Discovered by Andre Debierne in 1899 and independently by F. Giesel in 1902. Occurs naturally in association with uranium minerals. Actinium-227, a decay product of uranium-235, is a beta emitter with a 21.6-year half-life. Its principal decay products are thorium-227 (18.5-day half-life), radium-223 (11.4-day half-life), and a number of short-lived products including radon, bismuth, polonium, and lead isotopes. In equilibrium with its decay products, it is a powerful source of alpha rays. Actinium metal has been prepared by the reduction of actinium fluoride with lithium vapor at about 1100 to 1300-degrees G. The chemical behavior of actinium is similar to that of the rare earths, particularly lanthanum. Purified actinium comes into equilibrium with its decay products at the end of 185 days, and then decays according to its 21.6-year half-life. It is about 150 times as active as radium, making it of value in the production of neutrons. 

In 1957 Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) discovered bismuth molybdate catalysts capable of producing high yields of acrolein at high propylene conversions (>90%) and at low pressures (12). Over the next 30 years much industrial and academic research and development was devoted to improving these catalysts, which are used in the production processes for acrolein, acryUc acid, and acrylonitrile. AH commercial acrolein manufacturing processes known today are based on propylene oxidation and use bismuth molybdate based catalysts. 

Early catalysts for acrolein synthesis were based on cuprous oxide and other heavy metal oxides deposited on inert siHca or alumina supports (39). Later, catalysts more selective for the oxidation of propylene to acrolein and acrolein to acryHc acid were prepared from bismuth, cobalt, kon, nickel, tin salts, and molybdic, molybdic phosphoric, and molybdic siHcic acids. Preferred second-stage catalysts generally are complex oxides containing molybdenum and vanadium. Other components, such as tungsten, copper, tellurium, and arsenic oxides, have been incorporated to increase low temperature activity and productivity (39,45,46). 

Patents claiming specific catalysts and processes for thek use in each of the two reactions have been assigned to Japan Catalytic (45,47—49), Sohio (50), Toyo Soda (51), Rohm and Haas (52), Sumitomo (53), BASF (54), Mitsubishi Petrochemical (56,57), Celanese (55), and others. The catalysts used for these reactions remain based on bismuth molybdate for the first stage and molybdenum vanadium oxides for the second stage, but improvements in minor component composition and catalyst preparation have resulted in yields that can reach the 85—90% range and lifetimes of several years under optimum conditions. Since plants operate under more productive conditions than those optimum for yield and life, the economically most attractive yields and productive lifetimes maybe somewhat lower. 

Although acrylonitrile manufacture from propylene and ammonia was first patented in 1949 (30), it was not until 1959, when Sohio developed a catalyst capable of producing acrylonitrile with high selectivity, that commercial manufacture from propylene became economically viable (1). Production improvements over the past 30 years have stemmed largely from development of several generations of increasingly more efficient catalysts. These catalysts are multicomponent mixed metal oxides mostly based on bismuth—molybdenum oxide. Other types of catalysts that have been used commercially are based on iron—antimony oxide, uranium—antimony oxide, and tellurium-molybdenum oxide. 

Radon-222 [14859-67-7] Rn, is a naturally occuriing, iaert, radioactive gas formed from the decay of radium-226 [13982-63-3] Ra. Because Ra is a ubiquitous, water-soluble component of the earth s cmst, its daughter product, Rn, is found everywhere. A major health concern is radon s radioactive decay products. Radon has a half-life of 4 days, decayiag to polonium-218 [15422-74-9] Po, with the emission of an a particle. It is Po, an a-emitter having a half-life of 3 min, and polonium-214 [15735-67-8] Po, an a-emitter having a half-life of 1.6 x lO " s, that are of most concern. Polonium-218 decays to lead-214 [15067-28A] a p-emitter haviag = 27 min, which decays to bismuth-214 [14733-03-0], a p-emitter haviag... 

Bismuth citrate can be used only for coloring scalp hair such that the amount of bismuth citrate does not exceed 0.5% weight/volume of the product. Specific restrictions prohibit the use of bismuth citrate for coloring eyelashes, eyebrows, or hair on parts of the body other than the scalp they also iadicate label specifications. 

The presence of manganese can be detected by formation of the purple MnO upon oxidation using bismuth or periodate in acidic solution. A very sensitive test is the reaction of and formaldoxime hydrochloride in aqueous alkaline solution, which also leads to the production of a purple MnO ... 

Oxidation Catalysis. The multiple oxidation states available in molybdenum oxide species make these exceUent catalysts in oxidation reactions. The oxidation of methanol (qv) to formaldehyde (qv) is generally carried out commercially on mixed ferric molybdate—molybdenum trioxide catalysts. The oxidation of propylene (qv) to acrolein (77) and the ammoxidation of propylene to acrylonitrile (qv) (78) are each carried out over bismuth—molybdenum oxide catalyst systems. The latter (Sohio) process produces in excess of 3.6 x 10 t/yr of acrylonitrile, which finds use in the production of fibers (qv), elastomers (qv), and water-soluble polymers. 

The first successflil production method for the separation of Pu from U and its fission products was the bismuth phosphate process, based on the carrying of Pu by a precipitate of BiPO (126). That process has been superseded by Hquid-Hquid extraction (qv) and ion exchange (qv). In the Hquid-Hquid... 

Al-Pb. Both lead [7439-92-17, Pb, and bismuth [7440-69-9] Bi, which form similar systems (Fig. 17), are added to aluminum ahoys to promote machinahility by providing particles to act as chip breakers. The Al—Pb system has a monotectic reaction in which Al-rich Hquid free2es partiahy to soHd aluminum plus a Pb-rich Hquid. This Pb-rich Hquid does not free2e until the temperature has fahen to the eutectic temperature of 327°C. SoHd solubiHty of lead in aluminum is negligible the products contain small spherical particles of lead which melt if they are heated above 327°C. 

Bismuth is referred to as a minor metal. It is not generally mined for its own intrinsic value, rather it is mined primarily as a by-product of lead or copper ores. In China, however, bismuth can be found ia tungsten ores. In BoHvia the metal has been mined for its own value, but this has not happened on a consistent basis over the years because fluctuations ia the bismuth price have at times made it uneconomical to recover. 

Bismuth is mined primarily as a by-product of the processing of ores of other metals, mosdy copper and lead. The countries that mine significant quantities of bismuth are AustraUa, BoHvia, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Pern, and the United States. Production is summarized in Table 3. 

---