Sulfur

Description

Sulfur, through its major derivative, sulfuric acid is among the most used and important raw materials in industry today. It is a critical part of every sector of the world’s economies and is regarded as one of the best indices of a nation’s industrial development. In fact, sulfuric acid is the most produced chemical in the United States. This book is a scientific history of sulfur, tracking the technologies, applications, and the industry itself from ancient markets to the current global economy.

Sulfur, through its major derivative, sulfuric acid is among the most used and important raw materials in industry today. It is a critical part of every sector of the world’s economies and is regarded as one of the best indices of a nation’s industrial development. In fact, sulfuric acid is the most produced chemical in the United States. This book is a scientific history of sulfur, tracking the technologies, applications, and the industry itself from ancient markets to the current global economy.
Each chapter is devoted to either a method of production or a set of applications as they intertwined during different stages of industrial and technological developments. Particular attention is given to Herman Frasch, inventor of the Frasch Process, which enabled America to go from 100% import of sulfur to the world’s largest exporter in less than a decade.
The sulfur industry is also an excellent case study of entrepreneurship and relationship with inventors. It reveals the characteristics of entrepreneurs and inventors and approaches required to formulate goals. Most importantly, it shows how to succeed in new ventures. Rockefeller might have been a failure if Frasch had not rescued him from his “bad investment” in oil. Since sulfur must be removed from oil and natural gas before they can be used as energy sources, Frasch turned certain failure into wild success through his technological expertise and determination.
Although scientific and technical in nature, this book is written so that anyone without a strong chemistry background will enjoy reading it. The interested audience goes far beyond the boundaries of sulfur applications and the oil industry and should be found in every technical, university, and public library.

1 Le Roi du Sol
2 The Sulfur Age
2.1 Sulfuric acid manufacturing
2.1.1 The Nordhausen process
2.1.2 The Bell
2.1.3 The chamber
2.1.4 The contact
2.1.5 Metallurgical sulfuric
2.1.6 Pyrites
2.1.6.1 Spain
2.1.6.2 Italy
2.1.6.3 Norway
2.1.6.4 Canada
2.1.6.5 China
2.2 Sulfuric acid
2.2.1 The Leblanc
2.2.2 Phosphate
3 Native Sulfur – Sicily
3.1 Ancient sulfur
3.2 Renaissance sulfur
3.3 Industrial revolution (“Sulfur Age”)
3.3.1 Sicily
3.3.2 The Zolfare, the Solfatari & the Carusi
3.3.3 The Doppioni, Calcarella, Calcaroni & the Gill furnace
3.3.4 The Gabelloti
3.3.5 The British wine merchants
3.3.6 The Sulfur War of 1840
3.3.7 The post-Sulfur War era & the rise of pyrites
3.4 The cartels
3.4.1 Anglo-Sicilian Sulfur Company (ASSC): 1896 to 1906
3.4.2 Consorzio Obligatorio per D’Industrial Solfifera Siciliana (COISS): 1906 to 1932
3.4.3 Ufficio per la Vendita dello Zolfo Italiano (UVZI): 1934 to 1940
3.4.4 Ente Zolfi Italiani (EZI): 1940 to 1962
3.4.5 Ente Minerario Siciliano (EMS): 1962 to 1985
4 Frasch Sulfur – Texas/Louisiana
4.1 Native (non-Frasch) sulfur mines
4.2 Herman Frasch
4.2.1 His life & family
4.2.2 His oil ventures
4.2.3 His alkali venture
4.2.4 His salt ventures
4.2.5 His sulfur ventures: Union Sulfur
4.5 The other sulfur companies
4.5.1 Freeport Sulfur
4.5.2 Texas Gulf Sulfur
4.5.3 Duval Texas Sulfur
4.5.4 Jefferson Lake Sulfur
4.5.5 Sulexco
4.6 Liquid sulfur
4.7 Non-U.S. Frasch mines
4.7.1 Mexico
4.7.2 Poland
4.7.3 U.S.S.R.
4.7.4 Iraq
4.7.5 Brazil
5 Recovered Sulfur – Alberta
5.1 Sour, more sour, & sourest
5.2 Alberta & the global sulfur market
5.3 Sulfur blocks & broken sulfur
5.4 Sulfur forming: slate & prills
5.5 Marketing
5.5.1 Cansulex & Prism
5.5.2 Alberta to Vancouver
5.6 The global competition
5.6.1 U.S.
5.6.2 Western Europe

5.6.3 Persian Gulf
5.6.3.1 Iran
5.6.3.2 Iraq
5.6.3.3 Saudi Arabia
5.6.3.4 Other
5.6.4 Caspian Sea
5.6.5 Japan
5.7 Sulfur pricing: the penny syndrome
6 Future Sulfur – Oil Sands
6.1 Sulfur & the oil sands
6.2 Beyond the oil sands
7 The Sulfur Entrepreneur
7.1 The desperate entrepreneur & the reluctant investor
7.1.1 Institutional investors
7.1.2 Private investors
7.1.3 Entrepreneurs
7.2 The revolutionary technology: to switch or not to switch, that is the question
7.3 The ultimate venture: the monopoly game
7.4 Who killed the sulfur entrepreneur?
References
Appendix I. Sulexco Agreements
Appendix II. FTC Review of Sulexco
Appendix III. Global Sulfur Production
Index

Additional information