Sulphur

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Science and Technology

Why in News?

The West Asia conflict has disrupted Indian supply chains, especially for critical raw materials like sulphur.

Matter – Sulphur
Symbol – S
Atomic number – 16
Atomic mass – 32.07 u
Common Isotope – Sulfur-32 and Sulfur-34
Type – Non-metallic chemical element.
Occurrence – Found as native sulphur, sulphates, and sulphides.
Source – Most elemental sulphur is recovered as a co-product from oil and gas production.
Property – Yellow crystalline solid in native form; combines with most elements except noble gases.
Domestic production – Top Producers – Odisha, Kerala, and Haryana.
Mainly from petroleum refineries as by-product recovery.
Global production – Dominated by China, the U.S., Russia, and the Middle East.

Sulphur 1

Uses of Sulphur

Sulphuric Acid Production

Fertiliser Role

Industrial Applications

King of acid.
Most important industrial use; indicator of industrial development.
Applications – Ore processing, fertiliser manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater treatment, chemical synthesis.

Essential for phosphatic fertilisers.
Improves protein & oil in seeds, cereal quality, copra marketability, tobacco leaf quality, nutritive value of forage crops.

Sulphur 2

Sulphur is 16^th most abundant element in Earth’s crust.
Recognised as the 4th essential crop nutrient (N, P, K, S).
The presence of sulphur on the Moon's South Pole (Chandrayaan-3) discovery.
Largest source of Sulphur emissions fossil-fuel-based power plants.
Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) – A process in thermal power plants that removes sulphur dioxide from exhaust gases using an alkaline sorbent such as limestone.
Hydrodesulphurisation (HDS) – A catalytic process used in petroleum refining to remove sulphur from fuels by reacting them with hydrogen.