The high chemical reactivity of bromine plus the high solubilities of bromine compounds result in most of the world's bromine being in the oceans. For this reason the chemistry of an aqueous solution of bromine is explored. The process for recovering elemental bromine from sea water is then developed on a laboratory scale. The essential steps are 1) oxidation of bromide ion with chlorine, 2) concentration by reduction with sulfur dioxide to hydrogen bromide, and 3) re-oxidation followed by separation of the bromine by steam distillation. The same steps are then shown in an industrial bromine plant.
Collaborators: Prof. J. Leland Hollenberg, University of Redlands, Redlands, California, and James E. Magner, Dow Chemical Company.