. There are two Bromine plants in El Dorado Arkansas. These plants produce liquid Bromine by pumping up brine and allowing it to flow down an extraction tower. Steam and Chlorine were injected upward . The free Chlorine replaced the Bromine so it became free Bromine. Gassious Ammonia was used to kill the exess acidity before the used brine was re injected underground .
Free Bromine is normally a gas, but can exist for a long while as a deep purple liquid. Gassious Bromine is very bad and liquid Bromine is very deadly.
The collected Bromine is handeled in large glass pipes with silicone rubber seals. There are electromagnetic valves which are closed in the energized state. Power goes down and the valves open to atmospheric vents right at the valve.
I was working outside and near by was a plant maintaince man cuting open a 55 gal. drum using a torch. BOOM the bottom blew out and the drum shot high in the air. The drum hit the high voltage lines which were directly overhead. This shorted out EVERYTHING so all the safety vents opened . Bromine was venting everywhere. Soon everything was reset and back under controll . The man who was cuting open the 55 gal drum was unindjured and after cleaning himself up was back opening drums , this time with a shop hammer and pipe wrench.
Enough Bromine had leaked into the ground that when a boring machine operator drilled to a depth of 12 feet, the bromine in the ground came out in clouds sufficent to drive him off his machine for 15 min.
One day , I was working in the plant pouring concrete, Bromine eats concrete and the steel reinforcing bars inside. Bromine eats everything except wood and Dry Lead . There was a Ammonia leak and I had to run out through a large 18 " slab of wet concrete to an open field . I rested at home 3 days and returned to pick up my last paycheck.
ROBB