Making/Extracting Sulfur: Is It Possible?

[mrjeffy321]

Is there an easy way to make/extract Sulfur (/Sulphur)?
For example, making sulfur by taking the sulfur out of sulfuric acid? I don't think this is possible though, is it?
or by extracting it from sulfur soil and getting a relatively high purity?

 

[Cesium]

Flowers of sulfur sold at some garden centers is relatively pure. You can get rid of the calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate impurities by saturating it in water and filtering it.

As far as talking it from sulfuric acid or a sulfate, I would not even try doing this as it is easy to liberate H2S gas...and you wouldn't want to do that.

 

[mrjeffy321]

'flowers of sulfur', I have never heard of that, but apearently, it is synonymous to Sulfur, acording to the MSDS I am looking at.
and since Sulfur is incoluble in water, taking dissolving the impurities sounds like a very good plan to me.

I will look into getting some next time I have the chance. Are there any other names I could be called under, the only thing I am familar with is just called 'sulfur [soil]' and I don't think that is what your talking about.
Do you happen to know the initial purity of it right out of the bag, maybe it isn't even worth my effort in purifying it.

 

[Cesium]

It is sold as flowers of sulfur as fertilizer and it is already pretty pure (>90%). I read that you can buy flowers of sulfur from a pharmacy and this seems to be 99%.

Flowers of sulfur refers to a certain kind of sulfur, e.g. there's liquid sulfur also.

I think sulfur soil is different, soil with sulfur additives.

 

[Borek]

since Sulfur is incoluble in water, taking dissolving the impurities sounds like a very good plan to me.

Only as long as these impurities are soluble. Mix the sulfur with sand and water will be of no help, unless you are going to try some flotational method :)


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[Bladibla]

Don't eggs contain sulfer?

 

[mrjeffy321]

Only as long as these impurities are soluble.

Of course.


af far as eggs containing sulfur, I don't know, but if they do, I highly doubt there is an easy way to extract it.

 

[Borek]

af far as eggs containing sulfur, I don't know, but if they do, I highly doubt there is an easy way to extract it.

Egg proteins contain sulphur in methionine and cysteine - but you are probably right extraction is not an easy task. However, silver spoon put into egg white gets dark due to sulfide formation.


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[mrjeffy321]

I went to the store and looked for some of that 'flowers sulfur', but didnt find any (the guy I asked didnt have a clue what I was talking about).
They did however have something creatively named 'Aluminum Sulfate' (Al2(SO4)3), which is suppose if what they want people to use in place of just pure sulfur. I don't think this will be much use to be though, although I did learn an interesting little fact about this, if you miz it with water, it will make sulfuric acid. (they also had another product, 'Phosphate' (P2O5), which will make phosphoric acid when you mix that with water, good information to know when I need anything like that).

I also tried the pharmacy section of the super marked, no success there either.

Tomarrow, I'll try another store.

 

[Borek]

They did however have something creatively named 'Aluminum Sulfate' (Al2(SO4)3)

That is not a creative name, that's a chemical name

which is suppose if what they want people to use in place of just pure sulfur.

Aluminum sulfate is aluminum sulfate, sulfur is sulfur. Are you sure you know what is a difference between element and compound?

I don't think this will be much use to be though, although I did learn an interesting little fact about this, if you miz it with water, it will make sulfuric acid.

No way, what you will get will be the solution of aluminum sulfate. Plus some effects of hydrolysis.

(they also had another product, 'Phosphate' (P2O5), which will make phosphoric acid when you mix that with water, good information to know when I need anything like that).

What kind of store have you been in? They had P2O5 and they didn't had sulfur? I suppose that what they tried to sell as P2O5 was some kind of fertilizer with information about the phosphor content expressed in P2O5 mass (or %).


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[mrjeffy321]

That is not a creative name, that's a chemical name

Yes, I know that, I was being sarcastic, trying to give the obviousness of the name rather than calling it some undescriptive product name, like white powder numer 3.

Aluminum sulfate is aluminum sulfate, sulfur is sulfur. Are you sure you know what is a difference between element and compound?

I only thought this becuase a lot of times, when you buy something for a purpose like this, for example adding sulfur to your soil, the box may say, '45% sulfur', but really your buying they sulfur in a different form. like in fertilizer, they tell you a percent nitrogen, but I bet you it isn't really N2 that is in the bag, rather a nitrogen compound that they call nitrogen.

What kind of store have you been in? They had P2O5 and they didn't had sulfur? I suppose that what they tried to sell as P2O5 was some kind of fertilizer with information about the phosphor content expressed in P2O5 mass (or %).

I went to 'Lowes', in the garden section, they usually have whatever I need there. The P2O5 they had, acording to the box, was (I think) about 45% and the rest I don't know what it was.

 

[Borek]

I went to 'Lowes', in the garden section, they usually have whatever I need there. The P2O5 they had, acording to the box, was (I think) about 45% and the rest I don't know what it was.

Fertilizer compositions are often given in a little bit cryptic manner. For, example, potassium phosphate if sold as a fertilizer will have its composition given as 33% P2O5 and 66% K2O, regardless of the fact that it doesn't contain potassium nor phosphorus oxides. So don't believe what is on the box what is important is what's inside - and to check it you will have to analyze the fertilizer.


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[mrjeffy321]

I finally did get some sulfur, called "Dusting Wettable Slufur", it is about 90% sulfur, 10% "other".
I don't really know how much that 10% other will effect any experiments I want to do with the sulfur, but just for the heck of it (and because I am obsesive about purifying things), I'd like to see if I can purify the sulfur any more,
I did find this page on how to purify it using toluene,
https://sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=3902
the thing is, I haven't heard of this toluene stuff before today?
What is it, where can I get it, any safety info I should know? isn't it paint thinner and highly flamable?

 

[kclo4x]

well you can make sulfur from so2 and h2S (so2 + h2o = h2o + 2s) and you can get sulfer dioxide from alumium sulfate by heating it and you can make h2s from plaser of paris by heating it with cardon to reduce it to sulfide which then you can add an acid to it which will form h2s if it is concintrated the h2s gas wil foat out and you could take the gas and disolve it in a sultion of h2so3 (sulfur dioxide disoved in water) and sulfur should ppt it also can be done with h2so4 and h2s the reaction is h2so4 + h2s = 2h2o + 2s how ever expected low yeids and for it to be dangerus and time consuming so do not do this

 

[mrjeffy321]

I was looking for more practical ideas, in particular, this method I mentioned in my last post.
from the MSDS,
http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/TO/toluene.html
this stuff looks pretty nasty, and from the looks of it, the method described in the link would seem very dangerous (boiling the stuff).
Or should I be OK if I do it in a well ventilated area and don't sniff too much?

 

[redwraith94]

You don't want any solvents near a heat source, burner, hot-plate whatever.

You can get sulfur from a road flare. IDK what country you are in? I live in the US, and our flares are sulfur, Strontium Nitrate (oxidizers that burns strongly reddish), and a little bit of impurities.

What do you need the sulfur for?...mixing it with potassium chlorate by chance ;) ?

You don't need really pure sulfur if you are making some kind of pyrotechnics composition, just realize that it gives off incredibly suffocating fumes when burned.

 

[mrjeffy321]

You don't want any solvents near a heat source, burner, hot-plate whatever.

What do you need the sulfur for?...mixing it with potassium chlorate by chance ;) ?

You don't need really pure sulfur if you are making some kind of pyrotechnics composition, just realize that it gives off incredibly suffocating fumes when burned.

So you would say it is a bad idea to boil some toluene on a hot plate. Even outside, with plenty of ventilation? I was talking to some other people about doing this, and they were a lot more open to the idea of doing this, describing toluene as just about as dangerous as normal gasoline, just don't do anything too stupid with it and all should be well.

Mixing KClO3 with sulfur isn't too good of an idea since it is quite prone to go off by itself, but then again, hey, I am also talking about boiling a highly flammable and dangerous solvent too.

I wanted to use the sulfur for pyrotechnics, primarily with KNO3, to se if that will help relieve my dissapointment with that substance, but also with other pyro mixtures. I wasnt sure how the 10% impurity would effect it, but I figured the more pure the better, and since I found a method of doing it, why not.

 

[redwraith94]

If you want to boil a solvent, then I would recommend a double boiler, it is a pain the ass to use. It won't blow up though either...Boil a large pan with water in it, when it is boiling vigorously take it off of the heat source, and remove it by at least six feet, then take your other container filled with the toluene/sulfur mix, and immerse it into the boiling water. Stit, stir, stir! At this point you will have to reheat the toluene/sulfur mix a few times, and keep stirring it. No matter what you decide to do, do not boil any solvent directly over any kind of heat source, boiling water is a very nice buffer, and since most flammable solvents boil lower than water it is a good way to heat them with much less chance of fire or an explosion.

I still don't think that you need to go through all of this hassle for it. If you use a road flare, (Sulfur, Strontium Nitrate, <insert a few % of other random impurities>) and then boil it in water it will be more than pure enough for fireworks compositions. You might want to do it twice though, the sulfur will melt, and not dissolve. Strontium produces a fairly persistent red colored flame, so if you are going for color wash it twice, otherwise once is fine.

I mentioned the potassium chlorate because of your other thread on making it electrolytically. It was a joke *shrug*

 

[mrjeffy321]

I mentioned the potassium chlorate because of your other thread on making it electrolytically. It was a joke *shrug*

Oh, a Joke, I think I have heard of those before, very funny.

that method does sound a whole lot safer than putting the toluene directly on a heat source, but insted boiling water ["the universal solvent"] and use that to heat it up.

 

[redwraith94]

Oh, a Joke, I think I have heard of those before, very funny.

Thank you, I do try you know.

 

[seattle_rust]

The wetting agents are )generally) detergents. By crushing the material, then repeatedly soaking it in water for some hours and then filtering it off, you should be able to remove both wetting agent and any calcium sulfate (gypsum) in the material. To get rid of calcium carbonate you'll either have to melt the sulfur and filter it hot, or go the toluene solution route. Xylene works too, and can be heated slightly hotter. In either case you'll want to do it in a flask, preferably with a condenser to keep the solvent vapours from escaping.

Don't melt wettable sulfur before getting ride of the wetting agents, they're carbon compounds and tend to form hydrogen sulfide with the sulfur. I'd wash it with water before using the organic solvent, because the wetting agent might dissolve in the solvent too.

 

[seattle_rust]

And if you're in the US, and of age, it's easier to buy the sulfur from a pyrotechnics supply house such as Skylighter.

 

[mrjeffy321]

What are these wetting agents you speak of? The sulfur is wettable, dustable sulfur, so that means it has detergents in it?

Pre-washing it in water sounds like a good idea, or at least something that couldn't hurt it.

I am in the US, and of age (currently 18), but work wise, it might be easier to just buy the ready made pure sulfure, but it will probably cost a lot more too. Just buying the purified stuff in the first place will drive the cost up, and then the shipping (assuming the obey the law), will drive it up too since they cant ship it though standard mail.
At the end of the day, I think one would always have a better sense of accomplishment if you make it (or atleast purify it) yourself.

 

[redwraith94]

IDK what the wetting agents are, but skylighter wants 21, if you buy anything other than sparklers / party poppers, or books, then they demand that you prove that you are 21.

It is a good rule for them since they sell Many compounds that can easily be used for preparing high explosives. Another site that sells sulfur is http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm I have not personally used them yet, but they do not require you to be 21 years of age. ~8.00 $ US a pound plus 8.50 shipping is a little much for pure sulfur, but its your call.

 

[Cesium]

Today, I found a good source of sulfur- "Grant's Sulfur Dust". I bought it in Oregon, but it is manufactured in California. It is used for protecting plants against mildew. Sulfur...92.00% Other Ingredients...8.00%. I plan to dissolve the other ingredients in water, guessing that they are soluble.

I want to experiment with sulfides. I know you can react a metal and sulfur to get a metal sulfide, but I've heard this is quiet exothermic. I do experiments in small quantities, but I want to be safe. What is the best way to do this reaction? Are there safer ways of making sulfides? Perhaps by decomposing sulfates (I know bacteria do this but I don't think it can be done thermally)?

A major concern of mine is H2S. I know I should avoid reacting sulfides with acids, but under what other situations can this gas form?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[mrjeffy321]

I don't think that the "other" ingredients are water soluble. I have heard that they are either clay and/or Calcium Carbonate, so they wouldn't dissove in water.

Probably best to do the reactions in small quantities, outside in a ventilated area, and try not to breath in any gasses.