Utah
The Economic Benefits of Chlorine Chemistry
The Economic Value of Chlorine Chemistry to Utah
Chlorine-Related Production Benefits
to State Economy
Number of production facilities
dependent on chlorine or
chlorine compounds§
Employees
Savings to Consumers Attributed to the Use
of Chlorine Chemistry (by segment, in millions of $)
19
Pharmaceuticals
2,436.5
2,861
Water treatment
69.7
Sales (million $)§
$
483
PVC*
173.1
Wages (million $)§
$
159
Silicon
139.6
Fixed Investment (million $)§
$
276
Crop Protection
105.4
Taxes on
Worker
Income
Direct Worker
Total
(mil$)
Per
capita
Direct & indirect
Worker
Total
Per
(mil$)
capita
Bleaches & Disinfectants
Fluorocarbons
13.8
8.7
Federal
5.8
6,252
16.8
5,868
Titanium & titanium dioxide
18.9
State &
Local
1.9
2,038
5.5
1,913
Polyurethane-based Products
37.5
FICA
22.5
Total
3,003.0
Source: Whitfield & Associates, Inc.
§
Notes: values do not include indirect effects; all values are for 2009
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Every day, consumers in the United States benefit from products made with chlorine chemistry. It is
a key building block in major sectors of the economy. This summary is the result of groundbreaking
research to quantify the value of chlorine chemistry to nine specific segments of the U.S. economy at
the state level. Of course, chlorine chemistry is integral to a wide range of industry segments
beyond the ones featured here. In 2009, the chlorine-related industry directly and indirectly
supported about 2,861 jobs and generated $483 million in sales in Utah. Below is a summary of the
economic value to Utah by industry segment.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Utah
(continued)
The Economic Benefits of Chlorine Chemistry
2.
Pharmaceuticals: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is estimated to be over $2.4
billion per year. Representing only a small fraction of health care expenditure, the use of
pharmaceuticals is critical in reducing total health care costs and improving the quality of life for
those who use them. Without effective and safe pharmaceutical products, patients would place
greater demands on physician visits or experience longer hospital stays. Chlorine chemistry is
integral to the manufacture of 93% of the top-selling 200 drugs either as an ingredient in the
dose form or as essential element in the manufacturing process. The economic benefits can be
measured as the difference in the total cost that would be incurred by consumers in the absence
of chlorine-based products compared with their current cost. This cost includes the cost of the
pharmaceuticals and the cost of other components of the health care system that would be used
as substitutes.
Water Treatment: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is a cost savings of $70
million per year. Nearly every household benefits from chlorine chemistry when households
consume safe drinking water and when properly treated wastewater is returned to the
environment. Residents of Utah benefit by avoiding public health risks due to consumption or
dissemination of pathogen-containing water that spreads disease, and because chlorine
chemistry in water treatment is more cost effective than alternative disinfection techniques. All
the alternatives have limitations with respect to cost or effectiveness. Only chlorine-based
disinfectants provide residual disinfectant levels that prevent microbial re-growth and help
protect treated water as it travels from the treatment plant to the tap.
PVC: The net economic benefit for Utah consumers is estimated to be about $173 million per
year. PVC is used in an enormous variety of applications and competes with a diverse range of
substitute materials. Consumers encounter it every day in construction, electronics, healthcare,
automotive, packaging, and other applications. For example, PVC pipe holds a commanding
share in large diameter pressure water pipe and sanitary sewers because of its low cost, ease
of installation, long and reliable service life, and its low replacement and repair cost. Substitutes
are available in all these applications but the alternative materials and processes often are not
as efficient, will be more costly, and consumers may experience performance losses.
Silicon: The net economic benefits of chlorine chemistry for Utah’s consumers, measured as
the difference in costs and the utility to consumers between chlorine-free substitutes and the
chlorine-based products that they currently use, is a cost savings of $140 million per year.
Chlorine chemistry is central to the production of the highly purified silicon that is required for
the manufacture of silicon-based integrated circuits, solar cells, silicone-based products, glass
optical fibers and high purity fumed silica—all products essential to our increasingly high-tech
society. Chlorine-free processes that can produce silicon of the purity required for these
products have not been developed, so the absence of chlorine chemistry would force
consumers to seek products made from alternative materials. However, the substitutes may not
be well-suited for the broad range of current applications, the substitutes may be much more
costly, and consumers could experience performance losses.
Utah
(continued)
The Economic Benefits of Chlorine Chemistry
3.
Crop Protection Chemicals: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is estimated to
be over $105 million per year. Crop protection chemicals, which include herbicides, insecticides,
fungicides, and growth regulators, are critical inputs to improve productivity, quality and yield,
and reduce soil erosion. They account for only a small fraction of the input to the farm
economy. Without effective and safe crop protection chemicals, farmers would incur significant
costs to maintain the current high level of agricultural production, and consumers would pay
much higher prices for food products. Chlorine chemistry is integral to the manufacture of more
than 86% of the top-selling crop protection products. The economic benefits include the cost of
chlorine-free crop protection products and the cost of other components that would be used as
substitutes.
Fluorocarbons: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is a cost savings estimated to
be $10 million per year. Fluorocarbons are highly engineered specialty materials and chlorine
chemistry is integral in their production. They are used in a wide variety of difficult applications
because of their unique chemical and physical properties, which provide consumers with such
attributes as efficiency, safety, long life, and low life-cycle costs. These attributes often cannot
be obtained with other materials, even if the latter have lower initial costs. Applications include
refrigeration and air conditioning, intermediates for polymer production, and medical metered
dose inhalers. In the absence of chlorine chemistry, consumers would have to substitute
alternative materials and replace a significant amount of existing capital equipment, particularly
in refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
Titanium and Titanium Dioxide: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is a cost
savings of about $20 million per year. In the absence of an economically viable chlorine-free
route to the production of titanium metal, consumers would be forced to substitute other
materials in titanium metal and titanium alloy end use applications. Titanium competes with
other metals now in most applications such as high temperature aerospace turbines and
medical implants even where the initial cost of the alternative materials is lower per pound than
titanium. This is due to the metal’s superior physical and chemical properties, particularly useful
in the aerospace sector. For titanium dioxide, an alternative technology (but not one widely
used in the U.S. and Canada) uses sulfuric acid, so consumers could satisfy their requirements
without relying on chlorine chemistry.
Polyurethanes: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is a cost savings estimated to
be $40 million per year. Chlorine chemistry is central to the production of most isocyanates, a
major component of polyurethane-based products such as furniture and insulation that
consumers use every day. These versatile polymers can be produced in various forms, such as
rigid and flexible foams, surface coatings, adhesives and sealants and fibers. In the absence of
chlorine chemistry, consumers would have to substitute alternative materials for more than 96%
of the polyurethane-based products they currently use. None of the alternative materials
possess all of the attributes of polyurethane-containing products, however, so they could not be
perfect substitutes. Their use would raise costs to consumers because of the necessity of using
materials that have higher life cycle costs or decreased utility.
Utah
(continued)
The Economic Benefits of Chlorine Chemistry
4.
Bleaches and Disinfectants: The net economic benefit for Utah’s consumers is a cost savings
estimated to be nearly $15 million per year. Consumers benefit from chlorine chemistry in their
use of bleaches and disinfectants by having access to low cost products that satisfy their needs
in a wide variety of applications. Chlorine-based bleaches and disinfectants are used in wood
pulp bleaching, domestic, commercial and other industrial applications and in drinking water and
wastewater treatment. Alternatives to chlorine-based products and processes are available in
all these applications.
Economic values were estimated using a combination of government and non-proprietary industry data by Whitfield & Associates.
The major government data sources are the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau. No confidential company data
were used.
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