Sulfur
Sulfur, along with oil, coal, table salt and limestone is among the five main types of raw materials in the chemical industry and is of strategic importance for providing the population with food, because in addition to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium it is an essential nutrient for plants, the source soil fertility and increase of yields.
According to various sources, about 50% of the use of granulated sulfur falls on the production of sulfuric acid, about 20-25% is used in the production of various sulfites, and up to 15% for the needs of agriculture as a raw material for the production of pesticides. About 10% of the output is used in the process of vulcanization of rubber.
Granulated sulfur is also consumed in the spheres of artificial fibers, phosphors, pigments, dyes, in the production of matches, explosives, and dosage forms.
In general, the global sulfur industry can be divided into two sectors according to the forms of sulfur extraction: specialized and “by-product”. The specialized sector focuses solely on the extraction of sulfur from deposits and amounts to no more than 10.5% of the global sulfur production. And the extraction of sulfur in the extraction of oil, natural gas and coke production is a by-product and amounts to 89.5%.
Out of all the commodity forms of sulfur, granulated sulfur becomes the most popular. Among its advantages are flowability, convenience and safety during storage and transportation (by any type of transport), low losses, improved sanitary and hygienic working conditions when used in production. Variation of granulation technology (air, in a fluidized bed, water) allows you to adjust the size (from 0.5 to 6 mm) and the shape of the granules (grains, pellets, capsules, balls, etc.). Sulfur grade is 9998 (purity of 99.99 is actually achieved) allows using the product in technologies demanding to high quality of substances in the production process, reducing costs and increasing the output of finished products.