Present Status in the Development
                       of Flame Retardants
                            By Jingxi
With the development of the synthetic material industry and
the expansion of application fields in  China,   synthetic
materials have now been used in chemical building materials,
transportation and communication, electronic and  electric
devices and people's daily life. Cases of fire  caused  by
synthetic materials are more  frequent.   The  requirement
that synthetic materials should have the property of flame
  retardance  and  smoke  elimination  has   promoted   the
development of flame retardants.
China has yet no unified regulations on  flame  retardance.
Only building, decoration,  electric  device  and  mineral
mining departments have issued their  own  regulations  of
flame retardance, and  these  regulations  are  not  fully
observed either. The development of  the  flame  retardant
market is therefore not sound in China.
China can produce various flame retardants  and  the  major
varieties are as follows:
(1) chlorine series including 40#, 52# and 70#  chlorinated
paraffin;
(2) bromine  series  including  DBDPO,   HBCD,   tetrabromo
biphenol A, tetrabromo ethane,   tri( 2, 3- dibromopropyl)
isocyanate, tetrabromo biphenol A bi( 2, 3- dibromopropyl)
ether, tetrabromo phthalic anhydride and bi(di-bromopropyl
) fumarate.
(3) phosphate series  including  trichloroethyl  phosphate,
tri(2,3-dichloropropyl) phosphate,   triphenyl  phosphate,
tritolyl phosphate and ammonium polyphosphate.
(4) inorganic series including antimonous oxide,   aluminum
hydroxide, red phosphorus and zinc borate.
The proportion of chlorine series is the biggest  in  flame
retardants. The output of  chlorinated  paraffin  accounts
for the majority of the total output of flame  retardants.
The table 1 below shows the detail.
Chlorinated paraffin has plasticizing and  flame- retarding
  property  and  the  price  is  lower  than  bromine   and
phosphorus series.  It  is  extensively  used  in  plastic
processing. However, most of chlorinated paraffin are  42#
and 52# varieties mainly  used  as  plasticizer  in  flame
retardants. The proportion of 70# variety directly used as
flame retardant is  small,   and  the  product  should  be
developed.
DBDPO is the variety with the biggest capacity  and  output
in bromine series. The capacity was around 4 000 t/a,  the
output was around 1 500 tons and the  operating  rate  was
only 38% in 1996.   Some  producers  have  even  suspended
production. The main reason is that domestic products  can
not compete with imported products. The import  amount  of
DBDPO  was  around 2 000 tons  in  1996,   more  than  the
domestic output.
The future development trend is to maintain the capacity of
chlorinated paraffin,  increase  the  output  of  chlorine
series, and accelerate the development of bromine  series,
phosphate series and inorganic series.
Table 1    Capacity and Output of Chlorinated Paraffin in China
        Year                    1990    1991    1992    1993    1994    1995    1996
Capacity ('000 t/a)     52.5    55.6    61.6    74.7    83.1    90.0    93.0
Output ('000 t)         30.1    40.5    43.8    40.2    49.5    55.3    45.4