World consumption

World consumption data by end use in 1987 are shown in Table 8 (39). Solvent appHcations account for the largest use of acetone worldwide, followed by production of acetone cyanohydrin for conversion to methacrylates. Aldol chemicals are derivatives of acetone used mainly as solvents (40). 

Worldwide, triple superphosphate, over the period 1955 to 1980, maintained about a 15% share of the phosphate fertilizer market (Fig. 8). World consumption for the year ended June 30, 1991 (9) was equivalent to 3.6 x 10 t of P20, which was about 10% of world fertilizer P2O5 consumption. In the United States, consumption for the year ended June 30, 1990 (Fig. 7) was equivalent to about 240 x 10 t of P20, which represented only 6% of U.S. fertilizer P2O5 consumption. 

World consumption of potassium salts presentiy exceeds 28 million t of K O equivalent per year. About 93% of that is for fertilizer use (see POTASSIUM compounds). The potash [17353-70-7] industry is essentially a mining and beneftciation industry. The two main fertilizer materials, KCl and K SO are produced by beneftciating ores at the mine sites. The upgraded salts then are shipped to distributors and manufacturers of mixed goods. 

World resources of sulfur have been summarized (110,111). Sources, ie, elemental deposits, natural gas, petroleum, pyrites, and nonferrous sulfides are expected to last only to the end of the twenty-first century at the world consumption rate of 55.6 x 10 t/yr of the 1990s. However, vast additional resources of sulfur, in the form of gypsum, could provide much further extension but would require high energy consumption for processing. 

The economic magnitude of the U.S. fertilizer iadustry is iadicated by the yearly value of products which approaches 3 biUioa. U.S. fertilizer consumption represeats only about 13% of the total world consumption. Thus the aimual value of worldwide consumption is at least 22 biUion. The world investment for production faciHties to produce these quantities of fertilizer is also very high (114). 

World consumption totals also include the United States. 

The total world consumption of energy in all forms is only about 300 EJ (300 quads) thus the earth s heat has the potential to supply all energy needs for the foreseeable future (5). Economic considerations, however, may preclude the utilisation of all but a small part of this potential resource. Only a miniscule fraction of this energy supply has been tapped. 

In 1990 world consumption of lanthanides was approximately 35,000 metric tons (45). The most important markets were the United States /Canada (32.8%), China (18.6%), Europe (15.8%), Japan (14.5%), Eastern Europe (9.5%), the rest of Asia (7.3%), and the rest of the world (1.4%). The principal rare-earth manufacturers in 1993 were Molycorp Inc. and RhcJ)ne-Poulenc in the United States RhcJ)ne-Poulenc and Treibacher Chemische WAG in Europe Shinetsu Chemical, Nippon Yttrium, Mitsubishi Chemical Inc., and Santoku Metal Inc. in Japan Indian Rare Earths in India and several additional companies located in the CIS and in the Baotou, Gansu, Yue Long, and Jiangxi provinces in China. 

The estimated value of world cmde mineral production in 1992 was 1.6 trillion ia terms of 1992 dollars, a tenfold increase since 1950 in terms of constant dollars (4). This represents the value of mineral materials as mined or otherwise extracted from the earth, and does not reflect the value added through processing. The aimual world consumption of selected mineral commodities for 1992 is given in Table 4. 

As shown in Table 4, the 1992 world consumption of petroleum was neatly 10.4 X 10 m /d (65.4 x 10 bbl/d) (8), which is sbghdy higher, at 3.6%, than in 1978. In most of the regions shown in Table 4, consumption and production levels are not in balance. The one exception is the group of non-OECD European countries, ie, the former Soviet Union, the former C2echoSlovakia, Hungary, Poland, and other former Eastern Bloc countries, where production was neatly in balance with consumption at about 19% above consumption in 1992. 

Table 5. Percentage of World Consumption of Polymers by Type in 1990 ...

Fig. 1. (a) World production of nylon fiber (11) (b) world consumption of nylon resins (12). 

An estimation of the amount of amino acid production and the production methods are shown ia Table 11. About 340,000 t/yr of L-glutamic acid, principally as its monosodium salt, are manufactured ia the world, about 85% ia the Asian area. The demand for DL-methionine and L-lysiae as feed supplements varies considerably depending on such factors as the soybean harvest ia the United States and the anchovy catch ia Pern. Because of the actions of D-amiao acid oxidase and i.-amino acid transamiaase ia the animal body (156), the D-form of methionine is as equally nutritive as the L-form, so that DL-methionine which is iaexpensively produced by chemical synthesis is primarily used as a feed supplement. In the United States the methionine hydroxy analogue is partially used ia place of methionine. The consumption of L-lysiae has iacreased ia recent years. The world consumption tripled from 35,000 t ia 1982 to 100,000 t ia 1987 (214). Current world consumption of L-tryptophan and i.-threonine are several tens to hundreds of tons. The demand for L-phenylalanine as the raw material for the synthesis of aspartame has been increasing markedly. 

Economic Aspects and Uses. Almost all ammonium sulfate is used as a fertilizer for this purpose it is valued both for its nitrogen content and for its readily available sulfur content. In 1986/1987 United States consumption of ammonium sulfate was 0.57 million metric tons (34) world consumption during the same period was estimated at 13.3 million metric tons. In North America ammonium sulfate is largely recovered from caprolactam production. 

Consumption of NR Latex. The total world consumption of natural mbber latex was 585,000 t in 1993, more than double that of 10 years earlier. The proportion of total natural mbber used as latex concentrate also increased from 7% in 1983 to 11% in 1993. Malaysia remains the dominant latex concentrate producing country in the world (Table 12). Its decline in exports during the 1980s and early 1990s has been partly compensated by an increase in consumption within the country (Table 13). Since the 1970s there has been a gradual shift in latex consumption from the traditional consumers in Europe and the United States to Asian countries. In 1994 Malaysia consumed 175,000 t of latex, more than the combined consumption of Western Europe and the United States (see Table 13). 

Production and Economic Aspects. Aspirin is produced in the United States by The Dow Chemical Company, Rhc ne-Poulenc, and Norwich (a division of Proctor Gamble). Globally, Rhc ne-Poulenc has additional production faciHties in France and in Thailand. Bayer is self-suppHed from production units in Spain and Turkey over the years many small plants have been estabHshed around the world for regional or country supply. The aspirin market is increasingly globally suppHed. Aspirin is generally considered mature, and only population increases and new uses will affect its production and demand, which is thought to be of the order of 30—35,000 t for total world consumption. The May 1995 price was 8.30/kg (18). 

Consumption. World consumption of silver in 1994, including the use of scrap, was about 23,300 t. Industrial and decorative uses consumed 8,690 t jewelry and silverware, 6,477 t photography, 6,820 t and official coins, 1,335 t. 

Styrene—butadiene elastomers, emulsion and solution types combined, are reported to be the largest-volume synthetic mbber, with 28.7% of the world consumption of all synthetic mbber in 1994 (38). This percentage has decreased steadily since 1973 when SBR s market share was 57% (39). The decline has been attributed to the switch to radial tires (longer milage) and the growth of other synthetic polymers, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, and polystyrene. Since 1985, production of SBR has been flat (Table 3). 

Sucrose occupies a unique position in the sweetener market (Table 3). The total market share of sucrose as a sweetener is 85%, compared to other sweeteners such as high fmctose com symp (HFCS) at 7%, alditols at 4%, and synthetic sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin, and cyclamate) at 4%. The world consumption of sugar has kept pace with the production. The rapid rise in the synthetic sweetener market during 1975—1995 appears to have reached a maximum. 

Camphor Manufacture. Camphor is obtained both naturally and synthetically. Natural camphor is obtained from the wood of the camphor tree, Cinnamormum camphora which grows ia China and Japan. The camphor is isolated by combination of steam distillation, filtration, distillation, and sublimation (169). Natural camphor is the (+)-camphor, whereas synthetic camphor is racemic both products are recognized by the USP. In 1995, the price of synthetic camphor was 7.15/kg (45). In 1992—1993, the total production of synthetic camphor ia India was 3800 t, which is estimated to be about 40% of the world consumption (170). The largest single use (80%) of camphor is for religious purposes ia Asian countries. 

The U.S. titanium market distribution is shown in Table 18. Before 1970, more than 90% of the titanium produced was used for aerospace, which feU to ca 70—80% by 1982. Mihtary use has continually decreased from nearly 100% in the early 1950s to 20% in the 1990s. In contrast to the United States, aerospace uses in Western Europe and Japan account for only 40—50% of the demand (58). The CIS s consumption of titanium metal prior to the breakup was about one-half of the world consumption. In the 1980s, considerable amounts were used for submarine constmction. Since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, the internal consumption of titanium in the CIS is beheved to be a modest fraction of its former capacity, thus leaving a large capacity available for export. The world production faciUties for titanium metal and extraction are given in Table 19. 

Determining the exact consumption of antistatic products is difficult due to commercial secrecy. The world consumption for hydrophilic-type antistatic agents has been estimated for 1983 at 11,400 t, with an average growth rate of about 6.0% per y (146). The estimated average consumption of hydrophilic-type antistatic agents in the United States over time is given in Table 9. 

World Consumption and Uses. Eleven companies in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan have a total annual capacity for benzyl chloride of over 154,000 t. In 1988, total production for these three regions was 97,000 t. Overall, 1988 consumption exceeded 91,000 t, of which benzyl alcohol accounted for 23% or approximately 21,000 t (4). 

World Consumption. The estimated total world consumption of PEA and its esters for 1990 was 7000 t. Of this figure, one-fourth was used in North America and 43% in East and West Europe. Approximately 85% of the PEA is employed for fragrance use (102). 

From 1980 to 1988, aimual cellulose acetate flake production in the United States showed a slight decrease in production from 392,000 t to 323,000 t with an aimual decline of —0.4 to —0.1% (Table 6). World demand for cellulose acetate flake has also fallen. A modest recovery has occurred in recent years as a result of the increased demand for cigarette-filter tow world consumption of cigarette-filter tow has risen about 2.5% per year since 1980 (Tables 7 and 8). In contrast, world demand for textile fibers and cellulose ester plastics decline 4.6% and 4.2% per year, respectively (Fig. 9). 

Table 7. World Consumption of Cellulose Acetate Flake, 10 t...

Cellulose acetate ester plastics are produced largely in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. World consumption is assumed to be approximately equivalent to production of cellulose ester plastics in these three regions. Courtesy of CEH Estimates. 

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