Frasch Century

Thus, the Frasch Century ended. In the one hundred years of the Frasch industry in the U.S., three hundred and thirty-five million tonnes of sulfur were produced ... 

Sulfur can be produced direcdy via Frasch mining or conventional mining methods, or it can be recovered as a by-product from sulfur removal and recovery processes. Production of recovered sulfur has become more significant as increasingly sour feedstocks are utilized and environmental regulations concerning emissions and waste streams have continued to tighten worldwide. Whereas recovered sulfur represented only 5% of the total sulfur production ia 1950, as of 1996 recovered sulfur represented approximately two-thirds of total sulfur production (1). Recovered sulfur could completely replace native sulfur production ia the twenty-first century (2). 

Pyrite is the most abundant of the metal sulfides. For many years, until the Frasch process was developed, pyrite was the main source of sulfur and, for much of the first half of the twentieth century, comprised over 50% of world sulfur production. Pyrite reserves are distributed throughout the world and known deposits have been mined in about 30 countries. Possibly the largest pyrite reserves in the world are located in southern Spain, Portugal, and the CIS. Large deposits are also in Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United States, and Yugoslavia. However, the three main regional producers of pyrites continue to be Western Europe Eastern Europe, including the CIS and China. 

Sulfur is a very important industrial chemical. Current consumption ranks sulfur with the top five inorganic and organic chemicals produced in the U.S. The U.S. is the largest producer and consumer of sulfur in the world. The U.S. position in sulfur production resulted from the development of the Frasch process toward the end of the 19th century for mining the large sulfur deposits associated with salt domes in Texas and Louisiana. 

With the advent of new uses for sulfur in the near future, there is no present evidence that by-product sulfur from synthetic fuel plants will swamp the sulfur market in this century. If Frasch production still continues to decline the new markets continue to develop, sulfut imports may still be required in the year 2000. 

The number of Claus installations grew during the second half of the twentieth century. Technical and environmental requirements led to lower sulfur content in hydrocarbon fuels. Concurrently, the sulfur content of extracted oil and gas has increased significantly during the past 20 years. The trend towards Claus-produced recovered sulfur accelerated rapidly after the 1970s when environmental legislation finally took hold. In 1985, Frasch and recovered sulfur in the United States each accounted for about 5 million tons of... 

There are several sources of sulfur. Elemental sulfur is naturally occurring and can be mined by a process invented in the late 19 century by Herman Frasch. The Frasch process takes advantage of the relatively low melting point of sulfur at 115 C. Superheated water at 168 °C is pumped through pipes inserted into a well and molten sulfur is pumped from the well [4]. 

Before the discovery of the Frasch process, the only serious competitor to Sicilian sulfur was pyrites. During the pyrites golden years in the last quarter of the 19 century and the early years of the 20, their market share of sulfur in all forms was even greater than Sicily. Pyrites, especially from Spain, were so sue-... 

Sulfur was, at last, recovered from Calcasieu, a quarter century after the first attempts had been made by CSM. What others had spent decades trying to do, Frasch did in a matter of months. 

After nearly a century of world dominance in the production of native sulfur, the U.S, Frasch industry shuttered its last mine as a result of low sulfur prices, continually increasing competition from low-cost recovered sulfur producers, escalating production costs, and technical problems. 

After a century of monopolistic bliss, le roi du sol of Sicily had unwittingly degraded into a defenseless monarch awaiting a palace coup d etat. Frasch was more than willing to oblige. He, not Florio, became known as the Sulfur King. Williams Haynes described the pitfalls of the Sicilian monopoly (The Stone That Burns, p. 77) ... 

Even this industry inevitably succumbed to economic fate. As the sulfur possessions of Sicily had once fallen to the economic competitive onslaught of the Fra-sch process, so too the Frasch industry fell to the economic competitive hordes of recovered sulfur. They first came in the thousands of tonnes, then by the millions. Texas Gulf Sulfur and Freeport Sulfur valiantly fought to the bitter end. When Main Pass closed in 2000, Frasch had finally fallen after a glorious century. 

Something has been lost in the new sulfur world. Who killed the sulfur entrepreneur This question is actually a warning to the oil and gas industry. A Sicilian-type complacency has taken over. The modem industry seeks, no demands, status quo. Such corporate indifference to sulfur is a threat to their core industry. What will the industry do when environmental regulation forces the release of huge volmnes of sulfur stockpiled at the oil sands of Northern Alberta Will an entrepreneur short-circuit this process and find a way of bringing the sulfur economically into the global marketplace The sulfur world, especially recovered sulfur, has not seen much entrepreneurial spirit for the past few decades. Such dormant times are only a transition before a new generation of entrepreneurs sweep into this industry. Who will be the 2D century Frasch to introduce a new renaissance in the sulfur world ... 

Petroleum-linked sulfur deposits often occur at some depth below the surface, and it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century, when the elegant Frasch recovery method was developed, that they become commercially important. This process is covered in detail in the Case Study Industrial Inorganic Chemistry. 

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