Zinc markets

We have maintained a zinc production capacity of 156,000 t/y since 1974. On the other hand, the Japanese zinc market needed to import of about 100,0001 of zinc annually because of the short domestic supply. Expansion of the plant capacity had been repeatedly examined since the early 1990 s. During that time, the demand for zinc in Japan has been falling slightly, and two Japanese refineries stopped production. In 1996, we decided to start an expansion project. 

To demonstrate the effects of a delayed project, a pessimistic case of a 6 month delay will incur the following added costs, expressed as percentages of the total capital cost, assuming typical recent interest rates, capital and operating costs, and zinc market price ... 

Medicated Dandruff Shampoos. Dandmff is a scalp condition characterized by the production of excessive cellular material (18). A number of shampoos have been marketed which are designed to control and alleviate this condition, and many additives have been included in shampoo compositions to classify them as treatment products for dandmff. These additives include antimicrobial additives, eg, quaternary ammonium salts keratolytic agents, eg, saUcychc acid and sulfur heavy metals, eg, cadmium sulfide coal tar resorcinol and many others. More recent (ca 1993) systems use selenium sulfide [7488-56-4] or zinc pyrithione [13463-41 -7] as active antidandmff shampoo additives. Both of these additives are classified as dmgs, but can be found in over-the-counter products. A stronger version, incorporating the use of higher levels of selenium sulfide in a shampoo, is available but requires a prescription for purchase. 

Economics. As with the alkyl tin stabilizers, the market pricing of the mixed metal stabilizers tend to be directed by the particular appHcation. The calcium—zinc and barium—cadmium packages are typically used at 2.0—4.0 parts per hundred of PVC resin (phr) in the formulation. These completely formulated products are sold for 2.50— 4.40/kg for the Hquid products and 3.20— 6.50/kg for the soHds and pastes. The higher efficiency products aimed at rigid appHcations tend toward the higher end of the cost range. 

The basic metal salts and soaps tend to be less cosdy than the alkyl tin stabilizers for example, in the United States, the market price in 1993 for calcium stearate was about 1.30— 1.60, zinc stearate was 1.70— 2.00, and barium stearate was 2.40— 2.80/kg. Not all of the coadditives are necessary in every PVC compound. Typically, commercial mixed metal stabilizers contain most of the necessary coadditives and usually an epoxy compound and a phosphite are the only additional products that may be added by the processor. The requited costabilizers, however, significantly add to the stabilization costs. Typical phosphites, used in most flexible PVC formulations, are sold for 4.00— 7.50/kg. Typical antioxidants are bisphenol A, selling at 2.00/kg Nnonylphenol at 1.25/kg and BHT at 3.50/kg, respectively. Pricing for ESO is about 2.00— 2.50/kg. Polyols, such as pentaerythritol, used with the barium—cadmium systems, sells at 2.00, whereas the derivative dipentaerythritol costs over three times as much. The P-diketones and specialized dihydropyridines, which are powerful costabilizers for calcium—zinc and barium—zinc systems, are very cosdy. These additives are 10.00 and 20.00/kg, respectively, contributing significantly to the overall stabilizer costs. Hydrotalcites are sold for about 5.00— 7.00/kg. 

Of the binary peroxides made from hydrogen peroxide, calcium peroxide is the most important. World production is about 2000 t/yr, which is dominated by the dough-conditioning market in the United States. The markets for the other binary peroxides, such as those of zinc, magnesium, and strontium, total only a few hundred metric tons. Sodium peroxide and potassium superoxide are made from the alkaU metals and thek total markets are in the hundreds of tons. 

AHoy scrap containing tin is handled by secondary smelters as part of their production of primary metals and alloys lead refineries accept solder, tin drosses, babbitt, and type metal. This type of scrap is remelted, impurities such as iron, copper, antimony, and zinc are removed, and the scrap is returned to the market as binary or ternary alloy. The dross obtained by cleaning up the scrap metal is returned to the primary refining process. 

Zinc consumption is categorized in five semifabricating markets (see Table 15). Galvanizing was the main market for zinc in the 1970s followed by zinc-base casting alloys and brass and bronze. Depressed constmction and automotive industries caused a decline from 1979 to 1980 of ca 18%, and the die-casting business declined 34% and galvanizing 24%. 

Economic Aspects. Table 3 shows that mbber production is the largest market for zinc oxide the downturn in 1980 resulted from a drop in tire production because of the production trend to smaller tires, more importation of tires, and a recession. The drop in paint usage reflects the trend to water-base paints, which originally contained no zinc oxide. However, its growing use in such paints is based upon improved formulations based on zinc oxide. The increased use in agriculture is a result of the realization of the importance of zinc as a trace element. The rise in use of zinc-oxide-coated paper for photocopying is followed by a slackening in use because of a shift to plain-paper copiers. 

The market outside of the United States reflects the historical dominance of carbon—zinc ceUs. For example, in Japan nearly half of all sales are carbon—zinc ceUs, about 33% are alkaline, and about 17% are Hthium. The high proportion of Hthium ceUs relative to U.S. sales reflects the important photographic market in Japan. Western European sales are similar to those in Japan, and Third World sales are almost totally dominated by carbon —zinc... 

New efficient vulcanization systems have been introduced in the market based on quaternary ammonium salts initially developed in Italy (29—33) and later adopted in Japan (34) to vulcanize epoxy/carboxyl cure sites. They have been found effective in chlorine containing ACM dual cure site with carboxyl monomer (43). This accelerator system together with a retarder (or scorch inhibitor) based on stearic acid (43) and/or guanidine (29—33) can eliminate post-curing. More recently (47,48), in the United States a proprietary vulcanization package based on zinc diethyldithiocarbamate [14324-55-1]... 

The XeroX Copier Machine Model A was announced in 1949, and involved compHcated manual operation. Copies of acceptable quaUty were operator dependent. The Copyflo printer, introduced in 1955, was the first automated xerographic machine and enabled the production of copies on a continuous web of ordinary paper. Early electrophotographic products used paper coated with dye-sensitized zinc oxide Electrofax which had met market resistance in terms of aesthetics and cost, so that in 1958 the total market was only about 100 million (1—3,5). 

Particulate emissions from zinc processing are collected in baghouses or ESPs. SO2 in high concentrations is passed directly to an acid plant for production of sulfuric acid by the contact process. Low-concentration SO2 streams are scrubbed with an aqueous ammonia solution. The resulting ammonium sulfate is processed to the crystalline form and marketed as fertilizer. 

The American Zinc Association is a trade organization comprising primary and secondary producers of zinc metal, zinc oxide and zinc dust marketed in the United States. 

With industry proving to be so conservative about binary alloys it is hardly surprising that ternary alloys receive little attention. Nevertheless, two ternary alloys at least have become commercially available iron-chromium-nickel (so-called stainless steel) for both functional and domestic markets and an electronic connector and solderable alloy based on copper-zinc-tin. 

The desire to replace cadmium is generally attributed to its toxicity, both in terms of process pollution and product corrosion, and several alternatives are feasible thicker zinc, tin-zinc alloy or tin-nickel alloy depending upon the precise application " . The demise of decorative nickel-chrome systems in the automotive industries of the world is partly due to cost and partly to market image, and not to technical performance where major improvements took place in the period 1960-1975 through the establishment of duplex nickel under-layers and micro discontinuous chromium top-layers. In the 1980s the trend has been towards black finishes produced generally by powder-applied epoxy polymers. 

This trend also applies to the "reusable version of the manganese dioxide/zinc cell, which came onto the consumer market in... 

A more successful approach was that of Higashi et al. (1969a,b 1972). They blended solid add phosphate salts with zinc oxide powder. One add salt used was a predpitated hydrate of ZnH2P04. The cement was formed by mixing this powder blend with water. Work progressed to the point where three commercial brands of these so-called hydrophosphate cements appeared on the market. None met the spedfication requirements... 

Skinner, Molnar Suarez (1964) studied the cement-forming potential of 28 liquid aromatic carboxylic acids with zinc oxide. Twelve yielded cohesive products of some merit. Of particular interest were cements formed with hydrocinnamic, cyclohexane carboxylic, p-tertiary butyl-benzoic, thiobenzoic and cyclohexane butyric acids. One of these cements is on the market as a non-eugenol cement. It is very weak with a compressive strength of 4 0 MPa, a tensile strength of 11 MPa and a modulus of 177 MPa, and is only suitable as a temporary material (Powers, Farah Craig, 1976). 

---