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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.
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.
In 2015, 27.6 million metric tons of marketable phosphate rock, or phosphorite, was mined in the United States, making the US the world's third-largest producer, after China and Morocco. The phosphate mining industry employed 2,200 people. The value of phosphate rock mined was US$2.2 billion.
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 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 ...
Mosaic is purchasing the phosphate business of CF Industries for $1.4 billion. That is $1.2 billion in cash for the phosphate business, and Mosaic will add another $200 million in asset retirement ...
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.
Phosphate is an inorganic anion of phosphoric acid OP(OH) 3. There are also organophosphorus compounds with the formula OP(OR) 3. Subcategories.