Faiza Tehseen

The world-famous Salt Range – stretching between the valleys of the Indus and Jhelum rivers in the northern part of the Punjab – offers an abundant source for production of liquid bromine – an important industrial product.Currently, Pakistan imports bromine, spending a large amount of foreign exchange. If we produce this industrial product locally, we will not only be able to save our precious foreign exchange, but also promote the industrialization of Pakistan, Dr. Muhammad Qaisar, head of Medical Botanic Centre, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories (PCSIR), Peshawar, told WealthPK.

“Production of bromine – one of the most important industrial chemicals – is equal to nothing in Pakistan. The large import bills against these chemicals are eclipsing the profits and production costs. This industrial sector is badly neglected in the country,’’ said Dr Qaisar. He said bromine is produced after separation of salt from brine. It can be found as a compound. Otherwise, it is water soluble. It is found in low quantity and is expensive as well. Being a gas at room temperature, it effervesces quickly and vanishes.

‘’Bromine (a gas but found in liquid form) and mercury (even if it is a metal) both are found in the liquid state and are exceptional examples. On the earth’s crust, bromine is the 44^th most abundant element, mostly found at 2.4ppm. Unfortunately, it is not produced in Pakistan in sufficient quantities. But its local production can benefit our local industry and can also help cut our foreign exchange bill,” said the PCSIR official. Talking to WealthPK, chemist Mumtaz Hussain Mian said bromine is an important, widely used industrial chemical.

‘’Mostly, its users, i.e. industries, import it. Local manufacturing is not active. Its multiple forms are used in different types of productions. It can be made available here at a 45% reduced price of the total of its import bill. It is a deep-red toxic oily liquid with a sharp smell. Its compounds are used in multiple industrial products to make them less flammable. Naturally, it is found as natural salt stalks and sea water where bromides accompany chlorides. Industrial sources for its recovery are effluent of industrial brominating processes and quenched waters of waste incinerators. Through electrolysis, it can be extracted from bromine-rich natural brine deposits.”

Discussing the importance of bromine and other related components with WealthPK, Umar Farooq, a chemical engineer at the Duqm Oil Refinery and Petro-Chemical Industries Company L.L.C., said, “Bromine and its multiple derivatives are widely used in pharma, petro-chemical and other industries, i.e., plastic, rubber. Brominated organic components are used in a variety of products, e.g., polybrominated biphenyls are mostly used as flame retardant agents, methyl bromide is used in pesticides, and silver bromide is used in photography, while it is also used as a reactive intermediate in organic synthesis and the pharma industry as well.

Calcium bromide, sodium bromide, and zinc bromide are collectively referred to clear the brine fluid. They are also used in the oil and gas well drilling for high-density, solid-free completion, packer, and workover fluids to reduce the productive zone and well bore. With the passage of time, it is getting important for Pakistan to develop its own chemical industry to strengthen its economy.’’

‘’It leaves us with a bad feeling when we serve abroad and see the competent industries there working at full strength to develop their country. Our neighbor India is producing bromine and other derivatives. It is true that the establishment of production units, availability of raw material, professionals, skilled labor, value chain, market development, etc, require planning, time, and investment, but with the start of production, linking chains are also developed, and automatically the prices concerning production and all other buy and sell components are fixed.”

In terms of the recovery of bromine from the brine water in the Salt Range, Yaqoob Shah, Principal Geologist at the Global Mining Company, Islamabad, Member of the National Council for Marble & Granite and Minerals, and former GM of geology at the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) said, “It is an important industrial component and it is true that it can be recovered from brine water, but no research work has been done to date.”

Talking to WealthPK, a fisheries and technical adviser (marine fisheries) at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan said, “It is a halide chemical element and an important industrial agent to be added to different industrial products in many forms. Its compounds are also used for water treatment and to control the growth of algae and bacteria in industrial processes. In ocean beds, it is abundantly found in the compound form. It is also extracted from the sea water.

Bromine is also produced when the seaweed ash is saturated with chlorine. However, unfortunately, no specific study has been conducted in Pakistan to evaluate its presence in seawater or any type of marine life.” In 2021, the market size of bromine was estimated at more than 550 kilotons and was projected to grow at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4% by the year 2027.

Asia Pacific dominates the market by 50% share of the total production market and China is leading the Asia Pacific region as the 4th largest producer. In 2021, Pakistan imported bromine under the HS code 2801 and commodity group “Fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine” worth US$216k, US$5.24k, US$767, and US$ 36 respectively from India, Germany, Malaysia, and South Korea.

A few bromine-producing countries in the world are China, India, Germany, Azerbaijan, Israel, Jordan, Japan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United States, etc. Pakistan can be one of them by focusing on the industrial production of bromine to get its slice of the global economic share. The policymakers should consider it seriously for positive growth of the chemical, oil, and gas industry for a prosperous future.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk