INTRODUCTION

Titanium, the ninth most common element in the Earth’s crust, is a metal

commonly found in plants and animals. Titanium naturally interacts with oxygen

to form titanium oxides, commonly found in ores, indigenous dusts, sands and

soils. (Schilling et al, 2010).

WHAT IS TITANIUM DIOXIDE

Many people are familiar with titanium dioxide as an active ingredient in

sunscreen. Titanium dioxide works as a UV filtering ingredient in sunscreen – it

helps protect a person’s skin by blocking absorption of the sun’s ultraviolet light

that can cause sunburn and is also linked to skin cancer. Learn more about titanium

dioxide and sunscreen. (Levy, 1994).

TITANIUM DIOXIDE

Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania, is the naturally

occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula TiO. When used as a pigment, it is

called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. Generally it is

sourced from ilmenite, rutileand anatase. It has a wide range of applications,

from paint to sunscreen to food coloring. When used as a food coloring, it has E

number E171. World production in 2014 exceeded 9 million metric tons. It has

been estimated that titanium dioxide is used in two-thirds of all pigments, and the

oxide has been valued at $13.2 billion. (Chen et al, 1988).

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IMPORTANCE OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE (TIO2) IN PAINTS

In paints, titanium dioxide (chem. TiO2) is mainly used as a white pigment. Only

micrometre sized titanium dioxide causes such white

colouring. Nanoscale titanium dioxide functions as UV filter protecting the paints'

binder material. Equally, it degrades organic materials via generation of radicals

(photocatalytic actovoty ), which is e.g. used for self-cleaning surfaces. (Monteiro-

Riviere, 2011).

APPLICATIONS OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE

The most important application areas are paints and varnishes as well as paper and

plastics, which account for about 80% of the world's titanium dioxide

consumption. Other pigment applications such as printing inks, fibers, rubber,

cosmetic products and food account for another 8%. The rest is used in other

applications, for instance the production of technical pure titanium, glass and glass

ceramics, electrical ceramics, catalysts, electric conductors and chemical

intermediates. It is also in most red-coloured candy.

Pigment

Titanium dioxide is the most widely used white pigment because of its brightness

and very high refractive index, in which it is surpassed only by a few

other materials. Approximately 4.6 million tons of pigmentary TiO 2 are used

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annually worldwide, and this number is expected to increase as utilization

continues to rise. When deposited as a thin film, its refractive index and colour

make it an excellent reflective optical coating for dielectric mirrors and

some gemstones like "mystic fire topaz". TiO2 is also an effective opacifier in

powder form, where it is employed as a pigment to provide whiteness

and opacity to products such

as paints, coatings, plastics, papers, inks, foods, medicines (i.e. pills and tablets) as

well as most toothpastes. In paint, it is often referred to offhandedly as "the perfect

white", "the whitest white", or other similar terms. Opacity is improved by optimal

sizing of the titanium dioxide particles. Some grades of titanium based pigments as

used in sparkly paints, plastics, finishes and pearlescent cosmetics are man-made

pigments whose particles have two or more layers of various oxides – often

titanium dioxide, iron oxide or alumina – in order to have glittering, iridescent and

or pearlescent effects similar to crushed mica or guanine-based products. In

addition to these effects a limited colour change is possible in certain formulations

depending on how and at which angle the finished product is illuminated and the

thickness of the oxide layer in the pigment particle; one or more colours appear by

reflection while the other tones appear due to interference of the transparent

titanium dioxide layers. In some products, the layer of titanium dioxide is grown in

conjunction with iron oxide by calcination of titanium salts (sulfates, chlorates)

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around 800 °C or other industrial deposition methods such as chemical vapour

deposition on substrates such as mica platelets or even silicon dioxide crystal

platelets of no more than 50 µm in diameter. The iridescent effect in these titanium

oxide particles (which are only partly natural) is unlike the opaque effect obtained

with usual ground titanium oxide pigment obtained by mining, in which case only

a certain diameter of the particle is considered and the effect is due only to

scattering.

USES & BENEFITS TITANIUM DIOXIDE

Pure titanium dioxide is a fine, white powder that provides a bright, white pigment.

Titanium dioxide has been used for a century in a range of industrial and consumer

products, including paints, coatings, adhesives, paper, plastics and rubber, printing

inks, coated fabrics and textiles, as well as ceramics, floor coverings, roofing

materials, cosmetics, toothpaste, soap, water treatment agents, pharmaceuticals,

food colorants, automotive products, sunscreen and catalysts.

Titanium dioxide is produced in two main forms. The primary form, comprising

over 98 percent of total production, is pigment grade titanium dioxide. The

pigmentary form makes use of titanium dioxide’s excellent light-scattering

properties in applications that require white opacity and brightness. The other form

in which titanium dioxide is produced is as an ultrafine (nanomaterial) product.

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This form is selected when different properties, such as transparency and

maximum ultraviolet light absorption, are required, such as in cosmetic sunscreens.

Pigment-grade Titanium Dioxide

Pigment-grade titanium dioxide is used in a range of applications that require high

opacity and brightness. In fact, most surfaces and items that are white and pastel,

and even dark shades of color, contain titanium dioxide. Pigment-grate titanium

dioxide is used in a range of applications, including:

 Paints and Coatings: Titanium dioxide provides opacity and durability,

while helping to ensure the longevity of the paint and protection of the

painted surface.

 Plastics, Adhesives and Rubber: Titanium dioxide can help minimize the

brittleness, fading and cracking that can occur as a result of light exposure.

This can enhance the useful life of many plastic and rubber components used

in vehicles, building materials and other exterior applications.

 Cosmetics: Pigment-grade titanium dioxide is use in some cosmetics to aid

in hiding blemishes and brightening the skin. Titanium dioxide allows for

the use of thinner coatings of make-up material for the same desired effect.

 Paper: Titanium dioxide is used to coat paper, making it whiter, brighter

and more opaque.

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  Food Contact Materials and Ingredients: The opacity to visible and

ultraviolet light offered by titanium dioxide protects food, beverages,

supplements and pharmaceuticals from premature degradation, enhancing

the longevity of the product. Specific classes of high purity pigment-grade

titanium dioxide are also used in drug tablets, capsule coatings and as a

decorative aid in some foods.

AMMONIA

This is your secondary school laughing gas. It is also used to make the paints more

durable. It serves as a preservative agent too.

Ammonia is a colourless alkaline gas and is one of the most abundant nitrogen-

containing compounds in the atmosphere. It is an irritant with a characteristic

pungent odor that is widely used in industry. Inasmuch as ammonia is highly

soluble in water and, upon inhalation, is deposited in the upper airways,

occupational exposures to ammoniahave commonly been associated with sinusitis,

upper airway irritation, and eye irritation. Acute exposures to high levels

of ammonia have also been associated with diseases of the lower airways and

interstitial lung. Small amounts of ammonia are naturally formed in nearly all

tissues and organs of the vertebrate organism. Ammonia is both a neurotoxin and a

metabotoxin. In fact, it is the most common endogenous neurotoxin. A neurotoxin

is a compound that causes damage to neural tissue and neural cells. A metabotoxin

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is an endogenously produced metabolite that causes adverse health effects at

chronically high levels. Ammonia is recognized to be central in the pathogenesis of

a brain condition known as hepatic encephalopathy, which arises from various

liver diseases and leads to a build up ammonia in the blood (hyperammonemia).

More than 40% of people with cirrhosis develop hepatic encephalopathy. Part of

the neurotoxicity of ammonia arises from the fact that it easily crosses the blood-

brain barrier and is absorbed and metabolized by the astrocytes, a population of

cells in the brain that constitutes 30% of the cerebral cortex. Astrocytes

use ammonia when synthesizing glutamine from glutamate. The increased levels of

glutamine lead to an increase in osmotic pressure in the astrocytes, which become

swollen. There is increased activity of the inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric

acid (GABA) system, and the energy supply to other brain cells is decreased. This

can be thought of as an example of brain edema. The source of

the ammonia leading to hepatic encaphlopahy is not entirely clear. The gut

produces ammonia, which is metabolized in the liver, and almost all organ systems

are involved in ammonia metabolism. Colonic bacteria produce ammonia by

splitting urea and other amino acids, however this does not fully explain

hyperammonemia and hepatic encephalopathy. The alternative explanation is that

hyperammonemia is the result of intestinal breakdown of amino acids,

especially glutamine. The intestines have significant glutaminase activity,

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predominantly located in the enterocytes. On the other hand, intestinal tissues only

have a little glutamine synthetase activity, making it a major glutamine-consuming

organ. In addition to the intestine, the kidney is an important source of

blood ammonia in patients with liver disease. Ammonia is also taken up by the

muscle and brain in hepatic coma, and there is confirmation that ammonia is

metabolized in muscle. Excessive formation of ammonia in the brains of

Alzheimer's disease patients has also been demonstrated, and it has been shown

that some Alzheimer's disease patients exhibit elevated

blood ammonia concentrations. Ammonia is the most important natural modulator

of lysosomal protein processing. Indeed, there is strong evidence for the

involvement of aberrant lysosomal processing of beta-amyloid precursor protein

(beta-APP) in the formation of amyloid deposits. Inflammatory processes and

activation of microglia are widely believed to be implicated in the pathology of

Alzheimer's disease. Ammonia is able to affect the characteristic functions of

microglia, such as endocytosis, and cytokine production. Based on these facts,

an ammonia-based hypothesis for Alzheimer's disease has been suggested.

Chronically high levels of ammonia in the blood are associated with nearly twenty

different inborn errors of metabolism including: 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-

CoA lyase deficiency, 3-methyl-crotonylglycinuria, argininemia, argininosuccinic

aciduria, beta-ketothiolase deficiency, biotinidase deficiency, carbamoyl

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phosphate synthetase deficiency, carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase deficiency,

citrullinemia type I, hyperinsulinism-hyperammonemia syndrome,

hyperornithinemia-hyperammonemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome, isovaleric

aciduria, lysinuric protein intolerance, malonic aciduria, methylmalonic aciduria,

methylmalonic aciduria due to cobalamin-related disorders, propionic

acidemia, pyruvate carboxylase deficiency, and short chain acyl CoA

dehydrogenase deficiency (SCAD deficiency). (Mavon, 2007). Many of these

inborn errors of metabolism are associated with urea cycle disorders or impairment

to amino acid metabolism. High levels of ammonia in the blood

(hyperammonemia) lead to the activation of NMDA receptors in the brain. This

results in the depletion of brain ATP, which in turn leads to release

of glutamate. Ammonia also leads to the impairment of mitochondrial function

and calcium homeostasis, thereby decreasing ATPsynthesis. Excess ammonia also

increases the formation of nitric oxide (NO), which in turn reduces the activity

of glutamine synthetase, and thereby decreases the elimination of ammonia in the

brain (PMID: 12020609). As a neurotoxin, ammonia predominantly affects

astrocytes. Disturbed mitochondrial function and oxidative stress, factors

implicated in the induction of the mitochondrial permeability transition, appear to

be involved in the mechanism of ammonia neurotoxicity. Ammonia can also affect

the glutamatergic and GABAergic neuronal systems, the two prevailing neuronal

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systems of the cortical structures. All of these effects can lead to irreversible brain

damage, coma, and/or death. Infants with urea cycle disorders and hyperammonia

initially exhibit vomiting and increasing lethargy. If untreated, seizures, hypotonia

(poor muscle tone, floppiness), respiratory distress (respiratory alkalosis), and

coma can occur. Adults with urea cycle disorders and hyperammonia will exhibit

episodes of disorientation, confusion, slurred speech, unusual and extreme

combativeness or agitation, stroke-like symptoms, lethargy, and

delirium. Ammonia also has toxic effects when an individual is exposed

to ammonia solutions. Acute exposure to high levels of ammonia in air may be

irritating to skin, eyes, throat, and lungs and cause coughing and burns. Lung

damage and death may occur after exposure to very high concentrations

of ammonia. Swallowing concentrated solutions of ammonia can cause burns in

the mouth, throat, and stomach. Splashing ammonia into eyes can cause burns and

even blindness.

PubChem CID: 222

Chemical Names: Ammonia; 7664-41-7; Ammonia gas; Azane; Spirit of

hartshorn; Nitro-sil

Molecular Formula: NH3 or H3N

Molecular Weight: 17.031 g/mol

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STRUCTURE OF AMMONIA

The ammonia molecule has a trigonal pyramidal shape as predicted by the valence

shell electron pair repulsion theory (VSEPR theory) with an experimentally

determined bond angle of 106.7°. The central nitrogen atom has five outer

electrons with an additional electron from each hydrogen atom. This gives a total

of eight electrons, or four electron pairs that are arranged tetrahedrally. Three of

these electron pairs are used as bond pairs, which leaves one lone pair of electrons.

The lone pair of electrons repel more strongly than bond pairs, therefore the bond

angle is not 109.5°, as expected for a regular tetrahedral arrangement, but

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106.7°. The nitrogen atom in the molecule has a lone electron pair, which makes

ammonia a base, a proton acceptor. This shape gives the molecule a dipolemoment

and makes it polar. The molecule's polarity and, especially, its ability to

form hydrogen bonds, makes ammonia highly miscible with water. Ammonia is

moderately basic, a 1.0 M aqueous solution has a pH of 11.6 and if a strong acid is

added to such a solution until the solution is neutral (pH = 7), 99.4% of the

ammonia molecules are protonated. Temperature and salinity also affect the

proportion of NH4+. The latter has the shape of a regular tetrahedron and

is isoelectronic with methane.

The ammonia molecule readily undergoes nitrogen inversion at room temperature;

a useful analogy is an umbrella turning itself inside out in a strong wind. The

energy barrier to this inversion is 24.7 kJ/mol, and the resonance frequency is

23.79 GHz, corresponding to microwave radiation of a wavelength of 1.260 cm.

The absorption at this frequency was the first microwave spectrum to be observed.

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USES OF AMMONIA

1. Fertilizer

Globally, approximately 88% (as of 2014) of ammonia is used as fertilizers either

as its salts, solutions or anhydrously. When applied to soil, it helps provide

increased yields of crops such as maize and wheat. 30% of agricultural nitrogen

applied in the USA is in the form of anhydrous ammonia and worldwide 110

million tonnes are applied each year. (Schilling, 2010).

2. Precursor to nitrogenous compounds

Ammonia is directly or indirectly the precursor to most nitrogen-containing

compounds. Virtually all synthetic nitrogen compounds are derived from ammonia.

An important derivative is nitric acid. This key material is generated via

the Ostwald process by oxidation of ammonia with air over a platinum catalyst at

700–850 °C (1,292–1,562 °F), ~9 atm. Nitric oxide is an intermediate in this

conversion:

NH3 + 2 O2 → HNO3 + H2O

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 3. Cleaner

Household ammonia is a solution of NH 3 in water (i.e., ammonium hydroxide)

used as a general purpose cleaner for many surfaces. Because ammonia results in a

relatively streak-free shine, one of its most common uses is to clean glass,

porcelain and stainless steel. It is also frequently used for cleaning ovens and

soaking items to loosen baked-on grime. Household ammonia ranges in

concentration by weight from 5 to 10% ammonia.

4. Fermentation

Solutions of ammonia ranging from 16% to 25% are used in

the fermentation industry as a source of nitrogen for microorganisms and to adjust

pH during fermentation.

5. Antimicrobial agent for food products

As early as in 1895, it was known that ammonia was "strongly antiseptic ... it

requires 1.4 grams per litre to preserve beef tea." In one study, anhydrous ammonia

destroyed 99.999% of zoonotic bacteria in 3 types of animal feed, but not silage.

Anhydrous ammonia is currently used commercially to reduce or

eliminate microbialcontamination of beef. Lean finely textured beef in the beef

industry is made from fatty beef trimmings (c. 50–70% fat) by removing the fat

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using heat and centrifugation, then treating it with ammonia to kill E. coli.

(Boffetta et al, 2001).

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RECOMMENDATION

Since ammonia and titanium dioxide is essential in the production of emulsion

paint and it is environmental friendly, it is therefore recommended that:

1. The use of emulsion paint produce with the use of titaniun dioxide and

ammonia should be encourage.

2. Emulsion paint should be kept from the reach of children since it contains

chemical that will be dentrimental to human health if consumed.

CONCLUSION

Conclusively, titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania, is the

naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula TiO. When used as

a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891.

Generally it is sourced from ilmenite, rutileand anatase. Ammonia this is your

secondary school laughing gas. It is also used to make the paints more durable. It

serves as a preservative agent too.

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Gaborieau V., Klug S., Langard S., Luce D., Merletti F., Miller B., Mirabelli
D., Pukkala E., Adami H-O., and Weiderpass E. (2004). Mortality among
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Mavon, A. (2007). In vitro percutaneous absorption and in vivo stratum corneum
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