Since the beginning of recorded history, sulfur has played a role both in human commerce and folklore, being branded ‘brimstone’ by ancient civilizations which associated its vibrant coloration and rotten odor with infernal activities. There are few commodities which were traded in ancient times and are still traded in significant quantities today, but sulfur has been in demand since man first braved the sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide rich volcanic clouds to capture the bright yellow treasure.

General Properties of Sulfur

Sulfur is something of a strange material. At room temperature it assumes a solid crystalline form which boasts a stunning bright yellow coloration, however when molten it takes on a deep red color, and when lit it burns with a bright blue flame. Sulfur melts at 115 degrees Celsius, and boils at 444 degrees Celsius.

Elemental sulfur is insoluble in water, and is not a good conductor of electricity. At room temperature, sulfur is a solid, most often taking on a orthorhombic crystalline structure, though others are possible. Sulfur readily forms sulfides and sulfates when it combined with other elements and metals, with notable exceptions to this rule being silver and gold.

Uses of Sulfur

Sulfur is used in a wide range of applications. From being an essential ingredient in the process of vulcanizing rubber, to combating acne, sulfur is a very versatile element, which explains why it has been in such great demand for centuries. Sulfur is of course the basic ingredient of sulfuric acid, which is the most widely manufactured acid in the world. Sulfur also finds uses in gun powder, explosives, medicines, cosmetics, fungicides, pesticides, fumigants, matches, cements and animal feed, to name but a few.

Types of Sulfur

Sulfur can be found in many different states. Below are some common terms associated with commercially traded sulfur and related sulfur products.

Elemental Sulfur

Elemental sulfur is normally defined as sulfur which is more than 99.5% pure. In its most pure state, sulfur has no odor, is tasteless, and forms yellow crystals at room temperature. Elemental sulfur can be refined from crude or native sulfur, or extracted from natural gas or crude oil.

Crude Sulfur

Crude sulfur is a term given to sulfur mined from natural deposits which is tainted with impurities. Crude sulfur is also sometimes known as brimstone, and is often found near regions of volcanic activity, where oxidation reactions form sulfur dioxide, which smells like matches, only much more strongly, and hydrogenation of sulfides creates hydrogen sulfide which is responsible for the familiar ‘rotting egg’ smell that is commonly associated with sulfur.

Native Sulfur

Native sulfur is sulfur which can be found in natural crystalline form, usually in deposits around areas of high volcanic activity. Native sulfur is also sometimes known as ‘free sulfur’.

Elemental Sulfur Extraction

The bulk of the world’s sulfur is now extracted from natural gas and crude oil. Historically sulfur was obtained exclusively by mining, and sulfur mining is a tradition which stretches back around three thousand years, with records of Sicilian sulfur being traded as early as 900 BCE. Sulfur mining continues today in some parts of the world, however the practice has dwindled drastically in the past ten years or so, thanks to developments such as the Claus process which have enabled sulfur to be removed from crude oil and natural gas where it is not wanted, and to be converted from a poisonous gas into a useful and tradeable form.

Once little more than a toxic nuisance, hydrogen sulfide, the foul smelling gas which earned native sulfur deposits their moniker ‘brimstone’, has now become the primary source of sulfur in the world. Hydrogen sulfide doesn’t just smell bad, it is also extremely toxic and can cause death if inhaled in large amounts, though perhaps counter intuitively, there are small amounts of hydrogen sulfide naturally present in the healthy human body. It is important that care is taken when one is exposed to hydrogen sulfide as it quickly dulls the sense of smell, lulling people into a sense of security even as they are slowly poisoned to death.

The Claus Process

The Claus process is one by which hydrogen sulfide is removed from natural gas, crude oil and other similar substances, and transformed into the valuable elemental sulfur. The most popular of commercially viable extraction methods, the Claus process is fairly complicated, combining both thermal and catalytic reactions to achieve its final goal. A simplified explanation of the outline of the process follows.

To begin with, hydrogen sulfide is burned, which produces water and sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide and the remaining hydrogen sulfide then react with one another in what has been termed the Claus reaction, producing sulfur and water. This process is then furthered with the addition of catalytic agents which continue the reaction, yielding greater amounts of elemental sulfur than would otherwise be yielded by the reaction.

It is not an overstatement to say that the Claus process truly has revolutionized the sulfur industry, removing the need for native sulfur mining which should help preserve some landscapes along the Pacific Ring of fire which had become eroded and pitted due to sulfur mining. Though less native sulfur mining means fewer jobs for the laborers doing the back breaking work, it also means fewer deaths and less pulmonary disease related to exposure to sulfur dioxide. The sulfur obtained from the Claus process is also of a much higher purity in most instances than that which is obtained from native sulfur deposits mined then refined using various types of burning processes.

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One of the most naturally plentifully available elements in the world, sulphur has been mined, refined and used by mankind for centuries. Natural sulphur deposits, often referred to as ‘native sulphur’, are most often found in regions of volcanic activity, and because of this sulphur has historically been both revered and vilified as ‘brimstone’ by ancient peoples who believed that the terrible stone with its foul smell was thrown up directly from the underworld.

When in its pure crystalline form, sulphur forms bright yellow crystals which give off a rather unpleasant scent. The unmistakable smell, (not unlike rotting eggs) which emanates from sulphur deposits does not actually come from the sulphur itself, but from the hydrogen sulphide which is created during the hydrogenation of sulphates. Sulphur also gives off sulphur dioxide, a gas which smells strongly like a freshly struck match, and which can cause serious pulmonary illness if inhaled on a regular basis.

Crude sulphur is a highly useful commodity which lends itself to a range of purposes. Crude sulphur can be bright or dark in color, but is always free of selenium, tellurium, and arsenic. It can be used to make insecticides, fungicides, and bleaches, and its refined form is used in the production of vulcanized rubber, acne treatments, cellophane, and gunpowder, amongst other things.

Where In The World Is Sulphur?

Because sulphur is often found near regions with great volcanic activity, it is quite predominant around the so called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, a region of high volcanic activity where several tectonics meet, subside and grind under and against one another. This region includes countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the coast of North and South America. Some of these countries, such as Indonesia, Chile and Japan have active sulphur mining industries, others, such as New Zealand, are content to let their sulphur rich volcanic environments simply act as tourist attractions. Historically, Sicily was the main source of the world’s sulphur, however modern developments have cause the sulphur industry to shift to countries located on the aforementioned ‘Ring of Fire’.

The United States boasts a number of sulphur deposits, many of which have been worked extensively using the Frasch method of extraction which was invented in Louisiana, and is expanded upon later in this article. Other sulphur rich sites in the United States include Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Extracting Sulphur

Though native sulphur occurs naturally in fairly large quantities, extracting it from the surrounding material is no easy task. There are two main methods of sulphur extraction in common use, however many variants of these methods have been developed over time. The first extraction method to be discussed here is the traditional Sicilian method, which creates a crude sulphur product, the second is a more advanced modern method that results in sulphur with a purity of more than 99%.

The traditional method involves simply burning rocks containing sulphur. A great deal of the sulphur is burned up in this process (it is estimated that up to 30% is turned into gas and lost during the burning process), but the rest of the sulphur in the rocks melts and flows down where it can be collected.

In Sicily, this burning process was carried out in kiln pits known as ‘calceroni’. They were rather large, bring over 50 meters wide, and 30 tall, with solid thick mortar walls encircling them. Ore was packed into these pits, which were built into hillsides, with channels running through the ore known as ‘draught holes’. Fire was inserted into these channels, setting the sulphur ore alight. Once the fire had taken, the draught holes were covered, and the pit was left to burn. The sulphur that wasn’t lost as gas melted and flowed down toward the bottom of the pit, where a tap was placed. The molten sulphur was then drawn off every few hours. In total, the burning could sometimes take as long as two and a half months to complete, though it was more usual for the burning to be completed before the second month.

The more modern method for extracting sulphur is known as the Frasch method, developed by a German American scientist, Herman Frasch who was connected with the Louisiana sulphur industry. Unlike traditional methods, which require the sulphur ore to first be mined and brought to the surface by hoists or human labor, in the Frasch method a drill hole is simply made into underground sulphur deposits, and a series of concentric pipes inserted into the hole. The outer pipes are pumped with blisteringly hot superheated steam which reaches temperatures exceeding 150 degrees Celsius.

The heat from the steam inside the pipe liquefies sulphur, which has a rather low melting temperature of just 115 degrees centigrade. Compressed air is then pumped into the central pipe and bubbles through the molten sulphur, sending it up to the surface, where it solidifies with purity levels in excess of 99%. For obvious reasons, this method has superceeded the Sicilian method in the majority of sulphur mines, though some localities do still use variants of Sicilian extraction techniques to obtain sulphur.

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