Barium Sulfate
BaSO4
Drilling fluids consume some 85% of the world's total barytes consumption, making them easily the largest market.
Barite, barytes, or heavy spar, a white, yellow, blue, red, or colorless mineral. It is a sulfate of barium, BaSO4, found in nature as tabular crystals or in granular or massive form and has a high specific gravity. The mineral is widely distributed throughout the world. It often occurs in veins with lead and zinc minerals. It is insoluble in water, and this property is made use of in testing for the sulfate radical. It is practically insoluble under ordinary conditions in all the usual chemical reagents. Barite is used as a commercial source of barium and many of its compounds. Ground barite is used as a filler in the manufacture of linoleum, oilcloth, paper and textile manufacturing, rubber, and plastics. Finely ground barite is used to make a thixotropic mud for sealing oil wells during drilling. Prime white, a bleached barite, is used as a pigment in white paint but is not as satisfactory as blanc fixe, a chemically precipitated barium sulfate, or lithopone, a mixture of barium sulfate, zinc sulfide, and zinc oxide.
Barites is a material with environmental protecting function, it has a lot of advantages, such as a strong inertia, good stability, acid and alkali proof, moderate rigidity, high specific gravity, high whiteness, absorb in harmful radial. So, it is widely used in the fields of all kinds of dope, middle and high-grade paint, engineering plastic, medicine compounding chemical industry, rubber, paper-making, pottery, cosmetic etc.
Country of Origin
Guangxi, China
Chemical Name
Barium Sulfate
Chemical/Typical composition
BaSo4……….98%
SiO2……….1.2%
Fe2O3……..0.05%
Specific Gravity
4.3
Weight/Solid Gallon
36.26
Boiling Points (°C)
Starts at 155°C
Flashpoint (TCC)
Min. 42.7°C
Temperature Tolerance
Min. -30°C, Max: 70°C
Specifications
Barytes powder Chemical grade
BaSO4: 96%min
SrSO4: 0.7%max
CaSO4: 0.6%max
SiO2: 3.5%max
White rate: 88%min.
Powder Size: 325 mesh
Barytes Lumps Chemical grade
BaSO4 96%min
SrSO4 0.7%max
CaSO4 0.6%max
SiO2 3.5%max
White rate: 80% min.
Oil Drilling Grade Barite Crude (Standard Grade)
Specific Gravity: 4.23 minimum
Calcium: 250 ppm maximum
Mercury (Hg): 1.0 ppm maximum
Cadmium (Cd): 3.0 ppm maximum
Carbonates: 2500 mg/l maximum
Sulfides: 50 mg/l maximum
Moisture: 1.0% maximum
Lump Size (0-150mm): 95% minimum
Industrial Applications
Barytes is supplied in crude/lump form. Barytes, after suitable grinding and pulverizing, has many uses. It is mainly used in oil-well drilling and it is estimated that 90% of the barytes produced in the world is used only for drilling purposes. It is also found useful in the manufacture of white pigment or extender in pigments and barium chemicals, in the glass industry and as filler in rubber, leather, textile and paper goods.
Painting Industry
In dope and painting, it can be used as filling and can take the place of some expensive material such as basofor, crypton, titanium dioxide, activity, monox etc. Control the viscosity of the paint compatibly to make the products with bright color, good stability.
Plastic Industry
In plastic industry, it is used as the filling of plastic ABS to make the products with bright color. It also can improve the intensity, stiffness and abrasive resistance.
Rubber Industry
In rubber industry, the products less than 500 mesh can be used as the filling of rubber products to save cost. It can improve the intensity, and acid, alkali, and water proof, and also has benefit for the Natural Rubber and Synthetic Rubber.
Pharmaceutical Industry
In medicine, it can be used as barium meal material for the intestines and stomach reflection, and also the filling for plaster and dope to extend the time limit.
Paper-Making Industry
In the papermaking industry, high-refined barites powder can be used as the filling of white paperboard and coat paper, improve the whiteness and percentage of coverage.
Cosmetics Industry
In cosmetics, it can be a substitute of titanium dioxide, for its white and gentle, and harmless to the skin.
Properties
| Re-Order No. | BaSO4 content | whiteness | Density (g/cm3) | content | Fe2O3 content£¨%£© | SiO2 content£¨%£© | Rigidity |
| SS/MM/B-1 | ¡Ý97% | 95% | 4.3¡«4.7 | £¼0.3 | £¼0.5 | £¼1.5 | 3¡«3.5 |
| SS/MM/B-2 | ¡Ý96% | 92% | 4.3¡«4.7 | £¼1.0 | £¼1.5 | £¼2.5 | 3¡«3.5 |
| SS/MM/B-3 | ¡Ý93% | 90% | 4.3¡«4.7 | £¼1.0 | £¼1.5 | £¼2.5 | 3¡«3.5 |
Specifications
Drilling fluids consume some 85% of the world's total barytes consumption, making them easily the largest market. The price of drilling grade barytes depends primarily on demand from the oil and gas exploration industry and on the price of oil. After 2003 an oil glut could force oil prices down and reduce barytes demand, but experience shows that many other factors, such as the severity of the northern hemisphere winter and political conflict in the producing countries, could change this picture. Environmental concerns in offshore drilling will also impact on future barytes prices, as quality demands become more stringent. Barytes that is co-produced during base metal mining and flotation may become increasingly difficult to market, and alternatively, metal-free material will be in greater demand. This should push barytes prices up. The USA is easily the largest barytes consumer, accounting for 40% of world demand in 2001, most of which is imported. China is the other major barytes consumer, accounting for 14% of world demand, although in this case demand is met from domestic production. Oil and natural gas are expected to increase their share of total energy requirements from 62% in 2000 to 67% in 2020, which will increase demand for drilling grade barytes in exploration and development.
EXPORTS
EXPORT SUPPLIES OF NATURAL BARIUM SULFATE (BARYTES) AND NATURAL BARIUM CARBONATE (WITHERITE) EXCLUDING PURIFIED BARIUM OXIDE
| AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN | N. AMERICA | OCEANA | THE MIDDLE |
| Morocco | China Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Laos North Korea Singapore Thailand Vietnam | Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria France Germany Italy Kazakhstan Netherlands Norway Russia Slovakia Spain United Kingdom | Argentina Bolivia Colombia Guatemala Mexico Peru | Canada Trinidad and Tobago United States | Australia | Iran Kuwait Turkey United Arab Emirates |