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Phosphate is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy. The production of fertilizer is the largest source responsible for minerals mined for their phosphate content.
Phosphate rock mined in the United States, 1900-2015 (data from US Geological Survey) Large-scale phosphate mining in the US began in 1868 in coastal South Carolina. Access to river transport and proximity to the port of Charleston encouraged exports, and by 1885 South Carolina was producing half the world's phosphate. Phosphate mining in South ...
The construction industry is the number one user of phosphogypsum in 2020, with 10.5 Mt used as concrete set retarder and 3.5 Mt used in drywall. [13] It is also used as a chemical feedstock for producing sulfates , and as a soil conditioner similar to regular gypsum. [ 14 ]
The small island nation of Nauru and its neighbor Banaba Island, which used to have massive phosphate deposits of the best quality, have been mined excessively. Rock phosphate can also be found in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Western Sahara, Navassa Island, Tunisia, Togo, and Jordan, countries that have large phosphate-mining industries.
Phosphate rock production greatly increased after World War II, and remains the primary global source of phosphorus and phosphorus chemicals today. Phosphate rock remains a feedstock in the fertiliser industry, where it is treated with sulfuric acid to produce various "superphosphate" fertiliser products.
The mining industry of Morocco is important to the national economy. Morocco is the world's largest producer of phosphate , and contains about 75% of the world's estimated reserves. [ 1 ] Mining contributed up to 35% of exports and 5% of GDP in 2011. [ 2 ]
In 1977 the United States Environmental Protection Agency published a position paper advocating for a phosphate ban in detergents.. States including Maine, Florida, and Indiana in the United States began restricting or banning the use of phosphates in laundry detergent in the early 1970s, culminating in a nationwide voluntary ban in 1994. [3]
The term phosphate is also used in organic chemistry for the functional groups that result when one or more of the hydrogens are replaced by bonds to other groups. These acids, together with their salts and esters , include some of the best-known compounds of phosphorus, of high importance in biochemistry , mineralogy , agriculture , pharmacy ...