Sulphur

使用Organic sulfur compounds occur in garlic, mustard, onions, and cabbage and are responsible for the odor of skunks. Sulfur occurs in living tissue and is part of some amino acids. Unlike many other inorganic elements, sulfur itself is relatively nontoxic. Sulfur and some of its salts have been used medicinally. Organosulfur compounds, such as diallyl disulfide, exhibit antiproliferative effects on cancer cells. The consumption of sulfur is a measure of national industrial development and economic activity. Sulfur is most often used as a chemical reagent, rather than as part of a finished product. In the United States,about 90% of sulfur consumed was in the form of sulfuric acid. Agricultural chemicals (primarily fertilizers) comprised about 62% of sulfur demand; petroleum refining, 26%; and metal mining, 5%.

Sulfur (S) occurs naturally as a yellow, water-insoluble solid. The name is from the Latin “sulphur.” Early Greek physicians mention sulfur and the fumes from burning sulfur in religious ceremonies.Sulfur can be extracted from crude oil in the refining process, as well as from stack gases resulting from coal combustion. Sulfur occurs in fossil fuels and in metal (Fe, Pb) ores. The world resources of elemental sulfur in evaporate and volcanic deposits and sulfur associated with natural gas, petroleum, tar sands, and metal sulfides equal about 5 billion ton. The sulfur in gypsum and anhydrite is almost limitless; about 600 billion ton of sulfur is present in coal, oil shale, and shale rich in organic matter. However, recovery of sulfur from these sources poses an economic challenge due to lack of low-cost technologies. The U.S. sulfur resource is estimated at about one-fifth of the world total. Exposure may occur in numerous operations related to the mining and recovery of sulfur.