page_title: Halogen
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Halogen / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: From left to right: chlorine, bromine, iodine. Fluorine is too corrosive to be included in the picture, and astatine is too radioactive.
context_page_description: The halogens are a group in the periodic table consisting of five chemically related elements: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine (I), and astatine. The artificially created element 117, tennessine, may also be a halogen. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, this group is known as group 17.
  The name "halogen" means "salt-producing". When halogens react with metals, they produce a wide range of salts, including calcium fluoride, sodium chloride, silver bromide and potassium iodide.
  The group of halogens is the only periodic table group that contains elements in three of the main states of matter at standard temperature and pressure. All of the halogens form acids when bonded to hydrogen. Most halogens are typically produced from minerals or salts. The middle halogens—chlorine, bromine, and iodine—are often used as disinfectants. Organobromides are the most important class of flame retardants, while elemental halogens are dangerous and can be lethally toxic.
context_section_description: Approximately six million metric tons of the fluorine mineral fluorite are produced each year. Four hundred-thousand metric tons of hydrofluoric acid are made each year. Fluorine gas is made from hydrofluoric acid produced as a by-product in phosphoric acid manufacture. Approximately 15,000 metric tons of fluorine gas are made per year.
  The mineral halite is the mineral that is most commonly mined for chlorine, but the minerals carnallite and sylvite are also mined for chlorine. Forty million metric tons of chlorine are produced each year by the electrolysis of brine.
  Approximately 450,000 metric tons of bromine are produced each year. Fifty percent of all bromine produced is produced in the United States, 35% in Israel, and most of the remainder in China. Historically, bromine was produced by adding sulfuric acid and bleaching powder to natural brine. However, in modern times, bromine is produced by electrolysis, a method invented by Herbert Dow. It is also possible to produce bromine by passing chlorine through seawater and then passing air through the seawater.
  In 2003, 22,000 metric tons of iodine were produced. Chile produces 40% of all iodine produced, Japan produces 30%, and smaller amounts are produced in Russia and the United States. Until the 1950s, iodine was extracted from kelp. However, in modern times, iodine is produced in other ways. One way that iodine is produced is by mixing sulfur dioxide with nitrate ores, which contain some iodates. Iodine is also extracted from natural gas fields.
  Even though astatine is naturally occurring, it is usually produced by bombarding bismuth with alpha particles.
  Tennessine is made by fusing berkelium-249 and calcium-48.
caption: From left to right: chlorine, bromine, and iodine at room temperature. Chlorine is a gas, bromine is a liquid, and iodine is a solid. Fluorine could not be included in the image due to its high reactivity, and astatine and tennessine due to their radioactivity.
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