SCIENTIFIC - CHEMISTRY, FLUORINE, PHOSPHORUS, TITANIUM, VANADIUM, RARE EARTHS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700220054-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2003
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: April 3, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
PRODUCTION OF FLUORINE IN THE USSR
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WHERE
PUBLISHED
CLASSIFFICATIO S-
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Scientific -Chemistry, fluorine, phosphorus,
titanium, vanadium, rare earths
HOW
PUBLISHED Monthly periodical, books
LANGUAGE , Russian
DATE
PUBLISHED
One of the crude materials for the production of fluorine and fluorides
(including synthetic cryolite) is fluorspar. The principal occurrences of
fluorspar in the LSSR are in the T_ansbaykal region, Central Asia, and on the
island of Vaygach (60?E, 69?40' N). The Abagatuyev and the Kalarguyev deposits
are being exploited in the Transbaykal region. The beat known and most thoroughly
prospected occurrences in Central Asia are at Aurakhmatsk (90 km from Tashkent
and Takobsk (50 Ion from Stalinabad) A recently discovered deposit which has a
high calcium fluoride content is beir,, exploited on Vaygach.(1)
Another important industrial scarce of fluorine are the waste gases of
superphosphate plants, which contain silicon fluoride and hydrogen fluoride.
The richest deposits of apatite in the USSR (stated to be the largest ir the
world) are located on the Kola Peninsula, in the vicinity of Kirovsk (Khibiny).
Very large quantities of apar.ites are contained in these deposits: tY._ thick-
.ness of the apatite ore layer reaches 180 m. The Khibiny apatite ore contains
fluoroapatite and the following minerals*. nephel.ine, titanomagnetite, sphene
(titanite), and egirin (a vanadium ore).(2) On the basis of specially developed
procedures, the Khibiny apatite-nepheli.ne ores are being utilized for the pro-
duction of phosphate fertilizers and a great number of other chemical products.
"Some Developments in the Field of Soviet Chemistry and Chemical Technology"
O0-W-17325, stateG that in 1944 more titan 20 types of chcmicai enterprises in
the USSR used apatite-nepheline ore and its by-products as a source of crude
material. C0-W-17325 gives information, published in January 1950. In 1939
the Institute of Fertilizers and is e:tofungicidei+ had developed two methods
for a prsc.tir"ally ^_e:npiete ertra:t i:,n of phosphorus, fluorine, and rare earths
from apatite. One of these methods i_tivolved treatment of the apatite with nitric
acid and the other with sulfiric acid A report or, these methods was made by
Prof S. T. Vol'fkovich at a meeting held at Kirovsk (Khioir,y) 311 December 1939 -
4 January 1940 by the Academy of Sciences USSR, and several specialized institutes
Msacow/Leningra
1939 - 1950
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(Scientific Research Institute of Fertilizers and Ines ctofungicidea, State
Institute of Applied Chemistry, etc.) on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary
of Kirovsk and of the local apatite industry. According to this report, these
methods were scheduled for industrial application in the near future. The
meeting recommended that the Third Five-Year Plan provide for the design and
construction at Kirovsk and Monchegorsk of sulfuric acid plants based on the
local ores pyrrhotine and nickel and copper sulfides, plants for the production
of double superphosphate with fluorides and silica gel ("white soot") as by-
products, plants for the production of rare earths of the cerium group, of
titanium pigments, of phosphate slag, and of insecticides and fungicides con-
taining copper. The desirability of setting up pilot-plant experiments and of
organizing further projects in connection with the production of vanadium and
titanium steels by utilizing products obtained by treating apatite-nepheline
ores, egirin, and perovskite was also emphasized at the meeting.(3)
It is not known how far the work planned in 1939 - 1940 has advanced.
However, it was reported in 1949 and 1950 that recent and rapid advances bad
taken place in connection with the Kola Peninsula apat ite -nephe lint development
and its chemical ramifications.(2) As far as production of phosphate fertilizers
is concerned, the L946 - 1951 Five-Year Plan provides doubling of the output in
1950 with reference to the level of production in 1940. While the production of
titanium pigments was only projected in 1939, titanium dioxide for titanium white
was actually produced (a^.cording to Pozin) in 1949 from sphene concentrates con-
taining up to 30% of TiO2.
These factors should be considered in estimating the actual and potential
USSR capacity for fluorine production, because fluorine, as stated above, is a
by-product of apatite conversion.
1. A. I. Belyayev, Metallur 1g ya Legk:kh M-lallov (Metallurgy of Light Metals),
Metallurgizdat, Moscow, 1944, pp 797, 1 ,
2. M. Ye. Pozin. Tekhnolo i a Mineral'n kh Sole (Technology of Inorganic
Salts), Gonitht zdat , Moscow. L ningrad, 1949, pp 471-473 and 535-537,
"10th Anniversary of K1.rovsk and the Apatite Industry," Zhurnal !Mim.
Promyshlennosti, Vol XVII, Pao 6, June 1940, pp 60, 61
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