Zinc oxide powder has traditionally been used as a white pigment and as an additive to rubber. While it has largely been displaced as a pigment in paints, its usage in rubber remains very important. However, the myriad of other practical uses of ZnO are sometimes overlooked, and reviews in the recent scientific literature tend to emphasize high technology applications that do not yet have any commercial reality. Similarly, while some of the low-volume processes used to manufacture ZnO nanostructures have been well covered in the literature, there has been far less reported on the tonnage chemical engineering processes by which most ZnO is actually made. The multiplicity of processes by which ZnO can be produced is a potential source of confusion, however, the process used has a large influence on the properties of the oxide, and hence on its suitability for various applications. Here we provide a contemporary review and analysis of the manufacture of ZnO, and its properties, applications, and future prospects. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.