Silver News

By Jeffrey R. Ellis, Ph.D., MBA, Consultant to the Silver Institute

During 2004, world markets for biocidal silver grew at an overall rate of 15-20 percent. New markets are continuing to be developed and are also being researched. Water treatment is still the main use, but other uses continue to grow markedly, including textile products in which silver is an important ingredient in combating odor, and architectural uses, where silver has broad scale effectiveness against damaging organisms.

The most important influence on the growth in use and sales of biocidal silver is the worldwide economic recovery. In addition, there is more acceptance of the efficacy of silver-based biocides. Regulatory agencies, too, are easing restrictions on the use of biocidal silver and are reviewing more applications to control pathogenic organisms. Regulatory agencies now allow the use of silver in ice-making machinery, packaging and for other products in contact with food and water. Therapeutic products for wound care, where the silver containing biocide layer is in direct contact with the lesion, are also now allowed to be sold.

Wood preservation continues to be a major potential use of biocidal silver. Research conducted at the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, shows that silver chemicals are effective in improving the resistance of wood to termites. Research sponsored by the Silver Research Consortium at Florida International University and at Mississippi State University indicates that wood treated with liquid preservatives can withstand the South Florida soil environment and exposure to aggressive brown rot fungus. 200 parts per million of silver by weight of wood may prove to be the most effective and appropriate level, offering biocidal protection at a viable price point for wood manufacturers. Continuing efforts are being made to obtain funding for further research and for the basic generic studies on the environmental impact of silver and silver compounds necessary to register wood preservatives with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

An exciting new use of silver could be as an agricultural crop protection pesticide. Funding has been requested specifically to see if silver will be useful in combating citrus canker, a bacterium-caused affliction that threatens many of the citrus crops produced in Florida. If silver can be used for this purpose, other countries, especially those in Latin America, that produce both silver and agricultural produce for export, could benefit.

Another potentially important use of silver could be as a protection component in clothing and respiratory equipment for military, emergency, and first response personnel who would be in the front lines facing bacterial and chemical warfare agents. Silver, with its broad scale effectiveness against infectious organisms and ability to react rapidly with many chemicals, is already being tested for such purposes. Efforts are underway to improve the speed of silver’s capability to detoxify chemical and biological weapons.

Silver also looks like it will play a major role in the promising field of nanomaterials technologies and applications. Electronic properties of nanosilver constructions appear especially intriguing. Nanosilver particles also seem to offer much higher speed and efficiency in pathogen control. The Silver Institute will continue to monitor research in nanosilver technology and apprise interested parties of the development of major commercial applications..

Silver News - Second Quarter 2005