How to extract sulfur from ground water

[bigtoe]

Will boiling ground water that contains sulfur produce a yellow sulfur residue.

Thanks,
--Keith

 

[Bystander]

It can. This doesn't mean that a yellow residue implies sulfur.

 

[bigtoe]

The ground water had a bad odor and I was told that it was produced from sulfur in the water. I guess the question is weather the sulfur boils away with the water and, if not, how much water would need to be boiled away to produce a noticeable amount of sulfur. My son had this question at school and the teacher was unable to answer and suggested that he investigate and report back to her. Thanks for the help. --Robert

 

[Bystander]

Bad odor implies hydrogen sulfide, plus other sulfur compounds (if you're really interested, I can point you at some references on sulfur chemistry --- it ain't trivial). Boiling aqueous solutions of sulfides in air is a very mild oxidizing set of conditions that will oxidize sulfide to elemental sulfur (compared to boiling elemental sulfur in water under anaerobic conditions to get hydrogen sulfide). It's not adequate for treatment to produce potable water, nor can it be distilled too successfully, the hydrogen sulfide boils off and condenses with the water.