US consumption

There has been a tremendous interest in polymers since World War 11. In the US, consumption was 18 million metric tons in 1974, 25.7 million metric tons in 1984, and 41.3 million metric tons in 1994 [1]. Polymer production has increased from essentially zero at the end the World War II to about 101 million metric tons worldwide in 1993 [2] and 241 million metric tons in 2006 [3]. The reason for this increase is quite simple. Synthetic polymers are numerous in structure and are very diverse in their structure-property relationships. Polymers are used extensively in electrical applications, including insulators, capacitors, and conductors. They are also used in many optical applications, the biochemical industry, structural applications, packaging, and they are used extensively as thermal insulation [4]. 

The Carbide and Carbon Co began large scale manuf of EtnO thru ethylene chloro-hydrin in 1925 and by the direct oxidation of ethylene in 1937. Dow entered the field in 1939 Si 1941 Jefferson and Wyandotte in 1941 and Mathieson Chem Corp in 1951. These four Co s used the chlorohydrin method. US consumption, which was in 1939 108 million pounds, increased in 1949 to 354 million Several laboratory methods of prepn are described in Ref 17, pp 75—7. In one of them hydroxide is added gradually to a soln of 2-chloroethyI acetate heated to a temp betwn 40 150°C. An excess of unreacted base is avoided. The reaction proceeds as follows ... 

Tables 3.5 and 3.6 show that US consumption of nitrogen products has been flat to growing slightly since the mid-1990 s. It should be noted that ammonia consumption in the United States decreased by 1 percent per year from 1996 to 2001. However US ammonia consumption was forecast to increase by 2 percent per year from 2003 through 2005223. To maintain the US ammonia supply at the level that is needed to satisfy consumers, ammonia imports have increased whenever the operating rate declines (as shown in Figure 3.18). Therefore ammonia imports to the USA increase whenever natural gas prices increase (see Figure 3.19). Western and Central European countries experience similar dynamics in their ammonia markets.

Eor mercury, results from the 1999 US Natio nal Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), which measured mercury levels in hair and blood of US women, show that 8% of US women of childbearing age have concentrations of mercury at blood levels higher than those associated with EPA s reference dose. About 75% of the 2618 US consumption advisories listed on US EPA s 2001 National Listing of Pish and Wildlife Advisories were issued at least partly due to mercury, and lake acres and river miles under mercury advisory continued to increase in 2001, a trend since 1993. Most US advisories involve mercury, PCBs, chlordane, dioxin, and DDT, with PCBs being the second highest cause of fish advisories. 

In 1943, Calco produced around 97% of the US consumption of sulfadiazine (79), and was the sole American producer of sulfaguanidine (78), both supplied to the Army and Navy Munitions Board. The armed forces also demanded sulfathiazole (77), which cured several common diseases caused by streptococcus, staphylococcus, pneumonococcus and gonococcus, as well as preventing and curing wounds and burns115. In Britain, ICI stepped up manufacture of aniline and A,A-dimethylaniline for explosives, as well as for antimalarials and other pharmaceutical products116,117. 

Major uses of aluminum are in transportation (37% of US consumption in 2000), packaging, including beverage cans (22%), and building (15%). 

World production of mined lead was 3 331000 tonnes in 1991 and a further 5558 000 tonnes was refined by reprocessing. In the same year US consumption of Pb in metal products was 1 125 000 tonnes (including %7 000 tonnes in storage batteries). In addition, some 57 250 tonnes of other oxides and 29 750 tonnes of miscellaneous Pb-containing products were consumed. The US market price of Pb dropped from 1.05/kg in 1990 to 0.40/kg in 1993 due in part to the collapse in use of PbEt4 in petrol. 

Fig. 12.3 World production and US consumption of gallium between 1975 and 2001. [Data US Geological Survey.]...

Figure 2 Alkyl Pb gas consumption, 1930-93. Four European countries (accounting for 70% of EC gasoline consumption) stacked to compare with the much higher US consumption.

Also called polythene. Representing the largest used plastic with very little using reinforcements, PEs are of the olefin family with many different formulations [US consumption HDPE 42 wt%, LLDPE 27%, LDPE 20%, EVA 4%, others (VLDPE, MDPE, UHMWPE, etc.) 7%]. By far the largest volumes of these unreinforced materials go into film... 

Other fillers with significant shares of the world market in plastics are wollastonite (4%) and mica (2%), both chiefly in PP and polyamides. Consumption patterns for mica vary from region to region. Only about 5,000 tonnes of (mainly) dry ground mica was consumed in plastics in the US in 2002, which represents a mere 5% of total US consumption. 

US consumption of fine particle-sized calcium carbonates (which improve brightness and reduce absorption in a variety of polymer matrices) is expected to reach about 176 SOO tonnes by 2003. valued at US 38.6 million. Use of fine-particle kaolin and other clay-based fillers in plastics will total 57 600 tonnes, valued at US 21,7 million, and compounders and resin producers are expected to increase use of fine-particle and surface-treated alumina trihydrate by 6.2% per year, from about 30 800 tonnes in 1998 to 41 700 tonnes by 2003. 

The total world rhenium production in mines is estimated [29.4] at 28 400 kg for the year 2000, although this figure is uncertain. A value of 12 600 kg is included for the USA, although the production figure is secret. It has been calculated from the official values for MoS production in the USA. The US consumption of rhenium in 2000 (from domestic sources and import) was 32 000 kg, a considerable quantity considering that a production goal of 1 g was reached only 71 years earHer. 

Copper was the first metal used by man (6000 to 10 000 years ago). Now, copper and copper alloys are widely used in applications such as building construction (42% of US consumption), electrical and electronic products (24%), transportation equip-... 

In plastic articles (- plastics additives), - fatty acid amides, the ethyleneglycol esters of - oleic acid, - fatty amine ethoxylates, - fatty acid diethanolamides and mono/diglycerides are used. Worldwide - 10000 mt a are used for plastics. US consumption (1983) was 3300 mt. 

The various - coating types differ in DS, DP, solubility, kind of application (dipping, spraying, brushing, casting) and go into different fields of application, e.g., coatings for wood, metal, paper, plastic films, leather (- leather auxiliaries), and in printing - inks.The US consumption in this area was 15 500 mt (1991)... 

US consumption in 1990 was estimated to have been in the range of 150000-170000 mt, and the rest of the world uses the same or even a slightly higher volume. In coatings 90 000 mVa are used worldwide. 

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