33 Bromine Uses in Different Industries (Need To Know Facts!)

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Bromine is a group 17th halogen nonmetal having an atomic mass of 79.904 u. Let us focus on some industrial uses of bromine in this article.

The uses of bromine in different industries are listed below –

  • Water industry
  • Oil industry
  • Agriculture industry
  • Photographic industry
  • Dye and chemical industry
  • Flames Retardants

Bromine is one of most electronegative atom in the periodic table and due to higher electronegativity it can acts as reducing agent. Now discuss the uses of bromine in the following part of the article.

Water industry

  • One of the major uses of bromine is as a water purifier/disinfectant, as an alternative to chlorine.
  • Brominated compounds are used for water cleaning in swimming pools and hot tubs and are also used to control algae and bacterial growth in industrial processes.

Oil industry

  • Organobromine compounds are also used in high-density drilling fluids, dyes (including Tyrian purple and the indicator bromothymol blue), and pharmaceuticals.
  • Bromine and some of its compounds are used in water cleaning, and it is the precursor to a wide range of inorganic compounds with numerous applications.
  • Zinc-bromine batteries are hybrid flow batteries that are used for stationary electrical power backup and storage on a small to large scale.
  • Clear brine fluids are calcium bromide, sodium bromide, and zinc bromide combined. They are used in the oil and gas well drilling industry to reduce the likelihood of damage to the wellbore and productive zone by using high-density solid-free completion, packer, and workover fluids.
  • In the past, bromine compounds were used in leaded fuel, as a constituent of “anti-knock fluid”.

Agriculture industry

  • Bromine compounds are effective pesticides that are used as soil fumigants in agriculture, particularly fruit-growing, and as a fumigant to keep pests away from stored grain and other produce.
  • Bromine compounds are also used as intermediates to make some of the agriculture chemicals.

 Photographic industry

  • In photography, silver bromide (AgBr) is used as a component of an emulsion that aids in the development of a photographic image. Silver bromide is light-sensitive, and when suspended in gelatin, its grains form a photographic emulsion.

Dye and chemical industry

  • Bromine is used for the production of purple dye for cloths especially the molecule 6,6-dibromomingo is used for the production of dye.
  • Many bromine compounds are still used in the textile industry to produce elegant shades on clothes.
  • Bromine is used as the radical initiator in various organic reactions.
  • Br is used as the catalyst for a different chemical reaction like allylic bromination or any alkylation reaction.
  • Bromine is used in cooling towers (in place of chlorine) for controlling bacteria, algae, fungi, and zebra mussels.
  • Zinc–bromine batteries are hybrid flow batteries used for stationary electrical power backup and storage; from household scale to industrial scale.

Flames Retardants

  • Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) are commonly used to increase the fire resistance of these materials.
  • A brominated monomer such as tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and additive flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) are used as flame retardants.
  • Several gaseous or highly volatile brominated halomethane compounds make superior fire suppressant agents in submarines, airplanes, and spacecraft.
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Uses of Bromine In Different Industries

Bromine water uses

Bromine water is an oxidizing, intense brown mixture containing diatomic bromine dissolved in water. Let us see the uses of bromine water.

The uses of bromine water are listed below –

  • Oxidizing agent
  • Functional group determination

Oxidizing agent

  • Bromine water is an excellent oxidizing agent, it can be used for the oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid.

Functional group determination

  • Bromine water is commonly used to test for the presence of an alkene that contains a double covalent bond, reacting with the bromine water, changing its color from an intense yellow to a colorless solution.
  • Bromine water is also commonly used to check for the presence of an aldehyde group in compounds.

Ethyl bromide uses

Ethyl bromide is a bromoalkene group having a molar mass of 108.966 g/mol. Let us discuss some uses of ethyl bromide.

The uses of ethyl bromide are –

  • Petroleum industry
  • Agriculture Industry
  • Polymer Industry
  • Chemical industry

Petroleum Industry

  • Ethylene Dibromide or EDB was used on large scale as a lead scavenger additive with tetralkyls to reduce a destructive phenomenon known as engine knocking.
  • However, after the discovery of the carcinogenic properties of EDB, its use as a gasoline additive was replaced by another alternative, methyl tert-butyl ether.

Agriculture Industry

1,2-dibromoethane is used as a pesticide against many soil pests, such as Nematodes, soil fungi, parasitic plants, and several soil insects. 

Polymer Industry

  • Ethyl bromide is used for the production of different polymers which are used as flame retardant agents.
  • Different types of rubber and resin are formed from the ethyl bromide.

Chemical industry

  • Ethyl bromide is used as an alkylation reagent, intermediate for Pharmaceuticals, Quaternary ammonium compounds, and Dyes & Pigments.
  • In organic synthesis, EtBr is the synthetic equivalent of the ethyl carbocation (Et+) synthon.
  • Ethyl bromide is often used for transferring the functional group like carboxylates salts are converted to ethyl esters, carbanions to ethylated derivatives, thiourea into ethylisothiouronium salts, and amines into ethylamine.

Bromine trifluoride uses

Bromine trifluoride is an interhalogen compound having a molar mass of 136.90 g/mol. Let us see the uses of this compound in the following part.

The uses of bromine trifluoride are limited which are shown below –

  • Bromine trifluoride is used as a fluorinating agent in organic reactions.
  • It is used as an electrolytic solvent in different electrochemical cells.

Bromine chloride uses

Bromine chloride is also an interhalogen compound that is very reactive having a molar mass of 115.357 g/mol. Let us see the uses of this compound.

The uses of bromine chloride are listed below –

  • Bromine monochloride is used in analytical chemistry in determining low levels of mercury, to quantitatively oxidize mercury in the sample to Hg(II) state.
  • A common use of bromine monochloride is as an algaecide, fungicide, and disinfectant of industrial recirculating cooling water systems.

The addition of bromine monochloride is used in some types of Li-SO2 batteries to increase voltage and energy density

Conclusion

Bromine is a very important halogen atom that exists in a liquid state. It is used in different chemical reactions as a catalyst and bromination agent. The compound bromine has widely used in industries.