Sulfur production, Canadian

In view of the domestic estimates, imports are almost redundant, It appears likely, however, that by 1985-1990 Canada will have about one million additional short tons of acid available for export. At least some would be available in PAD districts I and II, Furthermore, sulfur production from sour natural gas and tar sands is likely to increase. As transport problems are mitigated and formed sulfur gains acceptance, Canadian output will become available to districts I, II, and IV. Excluding the existing stockpile, the estimate for tar sands and heavy oil is... 

Canadian sulfur production will show a net decline despite increased recovery at refineries and smelters. The greatest increases in supplies overseas are expected to occur in the Middle East, Poland, the Soviet Union and in Japan. Demand for sulfur in the world markets is expected to grow at roughly 4% per year (slightly faster than supply) and will sustain the present tight market and high prices for sulfur for several years into the future. 

Industrial chemical processes manufacture products that differ in chemical content from process feeds, which are naturally occurring raw materials, plant or animal matter, intermediates, chemicals of commerce, or wastes. Great Canadian Oil Sands, Ltd. (GCOS), in a process shown in Fig. 1.1, produces naphtha, kerosene, gas oil, fuel gas, plant fuel, oil, coke, and sulfur from Canadian Athabasca tar sands, a naturally occurring mixture of sand grains, fine clay, water, and a crude hydrocarbon called bitumen. This is one of a growing number of processes designed to produce oil products from feedstocks other than petroleum. 

What a change had taken place in the sulfur world during the 1950 s. Sulexco started the decade with almost it all. By the end of the decade, the writing was on the wall. As Sulexco reformed, Mexican and Canadian suppliers were gnawing away their market share and major new competition came on stream from Lacq in France and a monstrous new native mine in Poland for example, in 1960, non-U.S. sulfur production included ... 

In October 1957, the first sulfur was recovered from oil in Canada. Laurentide Chemical and Sulfur Limited (becoming Sulconam in 1980 now owned by Chemtrade Logistics) built a recovery plant (100 tonnes per day) for 2.5 million in Montreal East, which was fed by five local refineries. The source of the crude was offshore and, therefore, the sulfur production from this site was not included in official government statistics on sulfur. In the first full year of operation, Laurentide Chemical produced 21,000 tonnes of elemental sulfur. The second such sulfur recovery plant was built by Irving Oil, in Saint John, NB, in 1960. While smaller facilities were later opened (and closed), these two sites have dominated Canadian sulfur production from oil refining. Overall, sulfur production from oil refineries in Canada has been relatively small (sulphur Ifom the oil sands is discussed below). 

With the opening of the first plants, it was already apparent that Alberta would soon be a major sulfur producer. From the meager begitmings in the early 1950 s, recovered sulfur production in Canada escalated at an incredible rate, being driven by the demand for natural gas and the somness of Alberta wells. By the end of 1957, total annual recovered sulfur capacity in Canada was still less than 100,000 tonnes. The boom in Canadian natural gas, and associated sulfur, was just about to kick in as pipelines opened up gas exports to the United States. From their yellow crystal balls, Canadian sulfur analysts projected astronomic growth in sulfur production. In the 1955 report of the Canadian Mineral Yearbook, T.H. Janes projected that Canadian sulfur production would reach 1.2 million tonnes in 1960, fifty times present production. In 1962, production reached one million tonnes of... 

Another bold prediction was made in 1971 Canadian sulfur production would reach ten million tonnes by 1980. For once, the projection was a bit off. Elemental sulfur production in Canada had peaked, and has never surpassed nine million tonnes. By 1980, there were fifty sour-gas sulfur plants operating in Canada, of which forty-six were in Alberta. Sulfur production in this year was 6.1 million tonnes, up from 4.6 million at the beginning of the decade. No new major sour gas finds in Alberta took place until the discovery of the major field in Caroline. For the 1980 s, sulfur production was flat, just under six million tonnes per year. Not until 1994 was the production record of 1973 (seven million tonnes) surpassed. Since, Canadian elemental sulfur production has been around eight million tonnes per year. A record of 8.8 million tonnes was produced in 1999 (see Figure 5.4). Canada has been the second largest producer of sulfur, just behind the U.S., for a number of years and remains the largest exporter of sulfur in the world. 

Early on a problem developed with the Canadian boom in sulfur production shipments were not keeping up with production. There were only two choices cut back on gas production or store the sulfur. Excess sulfur was poured into huge blocks for storage on a scale that had not been seen before. An exceptional feature... 

In 1973, G.H.K. Pearse, writing in the Canadian Minerals Yearbook, projected that sulfur production from the oil sands could reach five million tonnes per year by 2000. However, these projections were drastically curtailed in subsequent reports. While it is easy to aimounce oil-sands projects, the massive financial commitment and fickle oil pricing often delays, or cancels, their implementation. A common deterrent is escalating costs between the planning of the project and constmction date. By 2000, only Suncor and Syncrude were operating sulfiir plants in the oil sands. 

The 1989 world production of sulfur in all forms is given in Table 14.1 by region and for major producing countries. Recovered sulfur accounted for 63 percent of brimstone production in 1989. Most of the recovered sulfur was derived from sour gas wells in Canada, the Soviet Union, and the United States. U.S. oil refineries recovered nearly 4 million tons of sulfur from the hydrotreating of sour crudes. Canadian tar-sands comprise the major source of other recovered sulfur production. Frasch and open pit mines in... 

The separation of basic precipitates of hydrous Th02 from the lanthanides in monazite sands has been outlined in Fig. 30.1 (p. 1230). These precipitates may then be dissolved in nitric acid and the thorium extracted into tributyl phosphate, (Bu"0)3PO, diluted with kerosene. In the case of Canadian production, the uranium ores are leached with sulfuric acid and the anionic sulfato complex of U preferentially absorbed onto an anion exchange resin. The Th is separated from Fe, A1 and other metals in the liquor by solvent extraction. 

It has been shown in these studies that the principal, and probably only significant source of NDMA, is malt which had been dried by direct-fired drying (21, 73). It is well known that malts kilned by indirect firing have either low or non-detectable levels of NDMA (74). Consequently, changes in malting procedures have been implemented in both the U.S. and Canada which have resulted in marked reductions in N-nitrosamine levels in both malts and beer (70,74). For example, sulfur dioxide or products of sulfur combustion are now used routinely by all maltsters in the U.S. to minimize N-nitrosamine formation (70). The Canadian malting industry, on the other hand, has... 

Similar to other commercial commodities, sulfur is stockpiled or vatted when production exceeds demand. Inventories of elemental sulfur held by U.S. producers peaked at 5.6 million metric tons in 1977 inventories held by Canadian producers in Alberta, Canada, peaked at 20.6 million metric tons in 1978 and 1979. By 1995, annual U.S. production of sulfur in all forms had grown to 11.5 million metric tons and apparent consumption of sulfur in all forms was about 13.2 million metric tons the annual growth rate was about 3% during the 1970s and 1980s. In North America, discretionary sulfur output decreased to about 2.9 million metric tons in 1995 as overall world demand for sulfur declined. During this same period, nondiscretionary sulfur output constantly increased (21,33). 

Reflection suggests that some of the sulfur allocated to district I might be reapportioned to district III. However, the major increase is found in district IV. This is based on a projection of production from the Overthrust Belt. The evidence for this is currently very scanty. Proved reserves have been estimated at. 4.5 TCF with ultimate resources at 100 TCF but drilling costs are high (23) The H2S content appears to run from 10 percent to 18 percent (24, 25). One processing plant with a sulfur capacity of 1200 T/d is already planned (26) Eight such plants would fulfill the 1990 estimate. By 1990, however, development of western tight sands and imports of Alaskan and/or Canadian gas could reduce the competitive position of the Belt. 

In summary, we estimate that the total sulfur supply in North America will increase from the 1978 level of about 20 million long tons per year to about 31 million long tons per year by the end of the forecast period. U.S. production will account for about two-thirds of this total, and Canadian supplies will account for about 20 percent of the total. 

Canadian demand for sulfur has amounted historically to about 10 percent of U.S. demand. We expect this relationship to continue. As in the U.S., over half of Canadian sulfur use goes into the production of fertilizers. Other major uses for sulfur are for the leaching of uranium ores, and for use in the pulp and paper industry. 

Aluminum production workers are exposed to PAHs [L], asbestos, fluorides [H], sulfur dioxide [-2.20], and magnetic fields. A case control Canadian study showed increased risks of lung cancer in aluminum production workers. I54l... 

Smelter acid is not as pure as the acid produced from sulfur combustion, so it fetches a lower price. Nevertheless, this product is quite suitable for uses such as fertilizer phosphate production, which gives a by-product credit to the process. Smelters which exercise this choice produce about 4 tonnes of sulfuric acid for each tonne of copper [36]. Smelter sources contributed about 6% of the sulfuric acid produced in the U.S.A. in 1965 and more than 60% of the Canadian total for 1976 [39]. 

The lower costs for sulfur, resulting from its recent production from sour gas, have made it even less expensive than commonly used portland cements. This is particularly so in the northern parts of the country where Canadian imports have a significant transportation advantage. Industry in this country is also developing its own stack gas sulfuric acid production brought about largely by air pollution controls. 

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