Cadmium

Cadmium is a soft, malleable, ductile, silvery-white divalent metal. It is similar in many respects to zinc but forms complex compounds. Unlike most other metals, cadmium is resistant to corrosion and is used as a protective plate on other metals. As a bulk metal, cadmium is insoluble in water and is not flammable; however, in its powdered form it may burn and release toxic fumes.

Cadmium makes up about 0.1 ppm of Earth's crust. It is much rarer than zinc, which makes up about 65 ppm. No significant deposits of cadmium-containing ores are known. The only cadmium mineral of importance, greenockite (CdS), is nearly always associated with sphalerite (ZnS). This association is caused by geochemical similarity between zinc and cadmium, with no geological process likely to separate them. Thus, cadmium is produced mainly as a byproduct of mining, smelting, and refining sulfidic ores of zinc, and, to a lesser degree, lead and copper. Small amounts of cadmium, about 10% of consumption, are produced from secondary sources, mainly from dust generated by recycling iron and steel scrap. Production in the United States began in 1907, but wide use began after World War I. Metallic cadmium can be found in the Vilyuy River basin in Siberia. Rocks mined for phosphate fertilizers contain varying amounts of cadmium, resulting in a cadmium concentration of as much as 300 mg/kg in the fertilizers and a high cadmium content in agricultural soils. Coal can contain significant amounts of cadmium, which ends up mostly in flue dust. Cadmium in soil can be absorbed by crops such as rice. Chinese ministry of agriculture measured in 2002 that 28% of rice it sampled had excess lead and 10% had excess cadmium above limits defined by law. Some plants such as willow trees and poplars have been found to clean both lead and cadmium from soil. Typical background concentrations of cadmium do not exceed 5 ng/m in the atmosphere; 2 mg/kg in soil; 1 μg/L in freshwater and 50 ng/L in seawater. Concentrations of cadmium above 10 μg/l may be stable in water having low total solute concentrations and p H and can be difficult to remove by conventional water treatment processes.

Cadmium is a common component of electric batteries, pigments, coatings, and electroplating.