Antimony poisoning

Antimony has a long history of medical use. Some scholars believe that Mozart died after being given antimony by the physicians who were treating his depression and who were unaware of just how poisonous antimony was. The evidence for this story is scant. It is also known that around 870 bce. Queen Jezebel and her contemporaries used the mineral or ore antimony sulfide as a cosmetic to darken their eyelashes and as an eyeliner. It is still used for this purpose in many countries. 

Metals passivation in the resid FCC unit may also be accomplished through the addition of metal traps. Tin, barium titanate, strontium titanate, magnesium oxide, manganese oxide, and specialized zeolite types and contents have all been used for vanadium trapping. In addition, zeolites coated with alumina and catalyst particles coated with rare earth have also been applied to resist vanadium poisoning. Antimony, bismuth, and specialized active high crystalline aluminas have all been used successfully to counteract the negative effect of nickel in the FCC unit. 

More reasonable concerns about mineral water have surfaced recently, mostly focusing on the possibility of antimony poisoning. Antimony trioxide is used as a catalyst during the manufacture of PET bottles, and the water in the bottle can dissolve some of this material. A series of experiments proved that several external factors (temperature, light, acidity of the water) influence how fast this dissolution occurs. However, the levels of antimony did not exceed safe values even under... 

Toxicity. Antimony has been found not to be a carcinogen or to present any undue risk to the environment (9). However, because antimony compounds also contain minor amounts of arsenic which is a poison and a carcinogen, warning labels are placed on all packages of antimony trioxide. 

Lead—antimony or lead—arsenic ahoys must not be mixed with lead—calcium (aluminum) ahoys in the molten state. Addition of lead—calcium—aluminum ahoys to lead—antimony ahoys results in reaction of calcium or aluminum with the antimony and arsenic to form arsenides and antimonides. The dross containing the arsenides and antimonides floats to the surface of the molten lead ahoy and may generate poisonous arsine or stibine if it becomes wet. Care must be taken to prevent mixing of calcium and antimony ahoys and to ensure proper handling of drosses. 

Catalytic Oxidation. Catalytic oxidation is used only for gaseous streams because combustion reactions take place on the surface of the catalyst which otherwise would be covered by soHd material. Common catalysts are palladium [7440-05-3] and platinum [7440-06-4]. Because of the catalytic boost, operating temperatures and residence times are much lower which reduce operating costs. Catalysts in any treatment system are susceptible to poisoning (masking of or interference with the active sites). Catalysts can be poisoned or deactivated by sulfur, bismuth [7440-69-9] phosphoms [7723-14-0] arsenic, antimony, mercury, lead, zinc, tin [7440-31-5] or halogens (notably chlorine) platinum catalysts can tolerate sulfur compounds, but can be poisoned by chlorine. 

Stibiae may be inadvertentiy formed by acidified reducing agents reacting with antimony-containing materials. It is an extremely poisonous gas which causes blood destmction and damage to the fiver and kidneys (2). 

In catalytic incineration, there are limitations concerning the effluent streams to be treated. Waste gases with organic compound contents higher than 20% of LET (lower explosion limit) are not suitable, as the heat content released in the oxidation process increases the catalyst bed temperature above 650 °C. This is normally the maximum permissible temperature to which a catalyst bed can be continuously exposed. The problem is solved by dilution-, this method increases the furnace volume and hence the investment and operation costs. Concentrations between 2% and 20% of LET are optimal, The catalytic incinerator is not recommended without prefiltration for waste gases containing particulate matter or liquids which cannot be vaporized. The waste gas must not contain catalyst poisons, such as phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, lead, zinc, mercury, tin, sulfur, or iron oxide.(see Table 1.3.111... 

Nickel in the feed is deposited on the surface of the catalyst, promoting undesirable dehydrogenation and condensation reactions. These nonselective reactions increase gas and coke production at the expense of gasoline and other valuable liquid products. The deleterious effects of nickel poisoning can be reduced by the use of antimony passivation. 

Special applications are often governed by different priorities as already discussed in relation to golf carts, the low water loss and the delay in antimony poisoning in heavy-duty service of a forklift are of eminent importance, with the result that rubber separators remain the preferred product there. Submarine batteries offer a different... 

The catalysts at the anode can be made less sensitive to CO poisoning by alloying platinum with other metals such as ruthenium, antimony or tin[N.M. Markovic and P.N. Ross, New Flectro catalysts for fuel cells CATTECH 4 (2001) 110]. There is a clear demand for better and cheaper catalysts. Another way to circumvent the CO problem is to use proton-exchange membranes that operate at higher temperatures, where CO desorbs. Such membranes have been developed, but are not at present commercially available. 

Herteto E, Febu JM, Aldaz A. 1994. Poison formation reaction from formic-acid on Pt(lOO) electrodes modified by irreversibly adsorbed bismuth and antimony. J Electroanal Chem 368 101-108. 

Antimony (Sb), 3 41-56, 56. See also Group Ill-Sb system InAsSb alloy InSb photodiode detectors/arrays Lead-antimony alloys Low antimony lead alloys Stib- entries in babbitts, 24 797 catalyst poison, 5 257t chemical reactions, 3 42—44 in coal, 6 718 economic aspects, 3 47-48 effect of micro additions on silicon particles in Al-Si alloys, 2 311-312 effect on copper resistivity, 7 676t environmental concerns, 3 50 gallium compounds with, 12 360 health and safety factors, 3 51 in pewter, 24 798... 

Antimony was known in the days of alchemy (500 BCE to 1600 ce) when it was associated with other metals and minerals such as arsenic, sulfides, and lead used as medications. It is possible that an alchemist, Basilus Valentinus (fi. 1450), knew about antimony and some of its minerals and compounds sometime around the mid-fifteenth century ce. Physicians of this period—and earlier periods—used elements such as mercury and antimony to cure diseases, although they knew that these elements were toxic in larger doses. Antimony was used to treat depression, as a laxative, and as an emetic for over two thousand years. Despite the elements poisonous nature, physicians of that early era considered both mercury and antimony good medicines. 

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