First Course in Abstract Algebra 7th

Edition Fraleigh Solutions Manual

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A First Course in
Abstract Algebra
Seventh Edition

John B. Fraleigh
University of Rhode Island
Preface
This manual contains solutions to all exercises in the text, except those odd-numbered exercises for which
fairly lengthy complete solutions are given in the answers at the back of the text. Then reference is simply
given to the text answers to save typing.
I prepared these solutions myself. While I tried to be accurate, there are sure to be the inevitable
mistakes and typos. An author reading proof rends to see what he or she wants to see. However, the
instructor should find this manual adequate for the purpose for which it is intended.

Morgan, Vermont J.B.F

July, 2002

i
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 Aside from the conversion of organic ammoniates, which is practiced on a large scale only in a few
instances, notably that of the Paris system of sewage disposal, four general types of industrial operation figure
more or less in the production of by-product ammonia. They include coal distillation, bone carbonization, oil-
shale distillation, and blast-furnace operations. The American production, however, is all derived from the first
two types. Both the others are active producers abroad, especially in Scotland, but neither of them has as yet
obtained a foothold in this country. The American recovery in connection with bone carbonization is of minor
consequence. Practically the whole supply comes from gas works and by-product coking operations. Figure
17, in the shaded area bearing the designation “ammonium sulphate production,” shows the magnitude and
trend of the production from year to year since 1900.
The organic nitrogen recovered in all of the various by-product connections taken together probably
constitutes 40 to 50 per cent. of the total supply. Coal product ammonia in this country adds another 12 to 15
per cent. So over half of our supply is of by-product derivation. The domestic output is supplemented in the
case of the organic form by considerable importations from South America, and, until interfered with by the
war, small amounts of ammonium sulphate were imported annually from Europe. Essentially, however, the by-
product supply is of domestic origin. Despite its magnitude, it occupies an anomalous sort of position
industrially. It is recovered incidentally for what it is worth, and sold for what it will bring. The cost of
production is largely charged off against the major operations with which its recovery is associated, and the
returns are credited in conformance, as a saving in the cost of the major operations. This is equally true
whether the source be that of the domestic animal on the farm, a coke oven, or a packing house.
The industrial output is built up as a sequence to industrial concentration. This is evidenced all down the
line, notably in the output of coke-oven ammonia from the steel industry and in that of organic ammoniates
from the meat-packing industry. It is this influence of co-ordinated industrial concentration, along with the call
for the major operations, that controls the supply of by-product nitrogen; so the development and handling of
the industrial output comes naturally to be largely in the hands of trade combinations. Thus, the coal-product
ammonia situation is largely at the disposal of the Barrett Co., the tankage and other animal-product
ammoniates gather for disposal at the hands of the packing interests, and the nitrogenous fertilizers from
cottonseed are for the most part prepared and marketed by interests subsidiary to the Cotton Oil Co.
The manufacturing interests involved are concerned primarily in the manufacture of other than nitrogen
products. The by-product nitrogen recovered has to compete for its market against what comes from the other
two industrial classes of supply, and its price goes just low enough to enable it to do so. The limits set in the
incidental character of the output leave no special incentive to carry the price competition further. Whatever
additional latitude of advantage as to cost of production it possesses goes not to promoting a further reduction
in the price of nitrogen but to lowering costs with reference to the major theme of production. Gas-house
ammonia, for instance, does not affect the nitrogen market so much as it does the cost of gas, and the organic
ammoniates recovered in connection with meat packing have not lowered fertilizer costs so much as they have
kept down the cost of meat to the consumer. Thus the by-product class of supply, though the leading one in the
point of magnitude, and by far the cheapest to produce, has little to do with determining the price of nitrogen.
The selling price of by-product nitrogen is determined by the price the product from competing sources brings.
In this country it is controlled by the price of Chile nitrate, and not, as commonly imputed, by the trade
combinations that develop and handle the output.
Fixation Compounds.—Nitrogen has five general habits of combination: with oxygen, giving rise to nitric
acid and its retinue of nitrate salts; with hydrogen, giving ammonia and the ammonium salts; with carbon, to
form cyanogen and the cyanides; with basic elements, yielding nitrides; and organically, in the form of organic
ammoniates. Various projects have been advanced for turning these to account in the fixation of atmospheric
nitrogen. For the most part they have met with little or no practical success, but there are exceptions to the rule
of failure in all five directions.
Direct Oxidation—Arc Fixation.—Nitrogen does not oxidize at all readily under any ordinary conditions,
but its natural indisposition to combine with oxygen may be overcome by passing a mixture of the two gases
through an electric arc. The atmosphere furnishes the nitrogen and oxygen ready mixed, so all that is needed in
the way of raw materials is an abundant power supply. Arc fixation was developed in Norway, where the
possibilities in the way of hydro-electric power give the best setting to be found anywhere in the world.
Efforts to introduce it elsewhere have resulted unsatisfactorily, and arc fixation has made relatively little
headway, as may be deduced from Table 66 and Figure 18. The reason is two-fold. So far, its use of power has
proved uneconomical, and its product unsatisfactory. The former of these two objections depends for its force
on the demand for power, but the latter is more decisive. The immediate end product is nitric acid, which is
both difficult to transport and limited as to use. To be put in shape for agricultural use it must be neutralized in
the form of a nitrate salt. Limestone is the only cheap neutralizing agent. This gives a salt, calcium nitrate,
which absorbs moisture, cakes, and is thus unsuited to the American agricultural practice of machine drilling.
An experimental plant near Seattle, Wash., aims to overcome this difficulty by turning out its arc product in
the form of sodium nitrate, but the project is of no commercial significance as it stands.
 Ammonia Fixation.—Nitrogen is no more disposed to combine of its own accord with hydrogen to give
ammonia than with oxygen to give nitric acid. In the case of the Haber process, the only synthetic ammonia
process that has stood the test of industrial application, the native indisposition to combine is overcome by
subjecting a properly proportioned mixture of the two gases to heat and pressure in the presence of a catalyzer.
This process was instituted in Germany shortly before the outbreak of the war, and as shown in Figure 16 and
Table 66 has developed steadily since then. Little seems to be known as to the efficiency of the German Haber
practice. Apparently, careful manipulation is necessary to obtain results. This means a skilled attention, which
is incompatible with mechanical volume production and is thus unsuited to American practice. What aims to
be an adaptation to American conditions was worked out by the General Chemical Co., and a plant with a
rated capacity of 60,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia per day was projected at Sheffield, Ala., at the
instance of the Government. The plant was completed, but before it could be tuned up for actual production
the war ended.
Cyanide Fixation.—Nitrogen, in passing through a red-hot mixture of finely divided soda ash, coke, and
iron, reacts with the sodium and carbon to give sodium cyanide. This principle of fixation is being extensively
experimented with, but has not been developed commercially, except in a small plant with a rated daily
capacity of 10 tons of sodium cyanide at Saltville, Va.
Cyanamid Fixation.—Hot calcium carbide will absorb nitrogen, forming a compound of calcium, carbon,
and nitrogen, according to the formula Ca CN2, known as cyanamid. The cyanamid process, based on this
reaction, has been extensively developed, far more so than any other of the various processes, as will be seen
by referring to Figure 16 and Table 66. Offhand, it looks to be the most adaptable and consequently the most
promising of the lot commercially. In this connection, however, it is interesting to examine the several charts
of its growth in the warring countries given in Figure 16. In none of these is the showing indicative of a
strong, healthy development. Worst of all is the case of Germany, with the contrast offered in the Haber and
cyanamid charts. Until the war, cyanamid manufacture was unable to obtain a competitive foothold in the
United States, although a small plant has been in operation at Niagara Falls in Canada for some years. The
problem it has faced is similar to that already chronicled for arc fixation, in that it draws heavily on power in
the preparation of the necessary carbide, and the cost of power in this country has been prohibitive. Under the
stress of the wartime demand for nitrogen, however, the Government contracted for the erection of three plants
—one at Muscle Shoals, Ala., one near Toledo, Ohio, and one near Cincinnati, Ohio, with a total rated
capacity amounting to 220,000 tons of ammonium nitrate per year. The work on all three was well under way,
but none of the plants had reached the producing stage when the signing of the armistice brought the nitrate
activities of the War Department to an end.
Nitride Fixation.—The only process of any prominence aiming to fix nitrogen in the nitride form is one
developed by the Aluminum Company of America. This has for its working principle the fact that a mixture of
alumina and carbon, highly heated, will absorb nitrogen by reacting to give aluminum nitride. The nitride
when heated with caustic soda gives its end product in the form of pure ammonia. The outstanding difficulty
encountered in applying this process commercially seems to be that of providing a furnace capable of standing
the temperature requirements. At all events the process has not succeeded in making good industrially.
Bacterial Fixation.—The artificial attempts at fixation have been directed almost wholly toward employing
chemical principles. In view of the difficulties experienced and the uncertain value of the results as a whole, it
is interesting and perhaps highly significant to reflect that after all, as indicated in Figure 15, inorganic
chemical principles seemingly have little to do with developing the natural supply, probably because of the
activities of nitrifying bacteria. Little attention has been given to the possibilities in this direction. This is only
natural so far as commercially actuated research is concerned, since it does not lead in the definite direction of
patent rights; but the failure to institute an adequate investigation governmentally can be attributed only to
lack of comprehension with reference to the scope of the nitrogen issue as brought out under “General Aspects
of Control” on pages 425 to 433. The subject has received just enough attention to show that bacterial fixation
represents a tremendous field of grossly neglected possibilities.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND CHANGES IN PRACTICE

The whole matter of fixation must be regarded as in process of development. True, it was instituted some
fifteen or twenty years ago and has grown to represent the largest producing source of chemical nitrogen, with
operations in practically all the important industrial countries in the world and with responsible financial
backing. But no one can examine the charts in Figure 16 without recognizing the premature, mushroom
quality of the upgrowth, induced primarily in response to the political conditions leading to and through the
war. This is especially true for the American situation. When the war broke out, fixation here was confessedly
still in the dependent stage of its development, unable in every effort it had made to stand alone industrially. In
the main, the developments that have transpired subsequently have followed along pre-existing lines. In so far
as they have done so, little actual economic significance is to be attached to them. For the rest, the new
developments, all that can be said at this juncture is that they are disappointingly meager.
Just one wartime achievement, the oxidation of ammonia, stands out as affording a worth that is
unmistakably clear. The nitrogen situation, it will be recalled, has two aspects, the military and the
agricultural. The military focus is on nitric acid, and the readiest means of insuring a supply; the agricultural
focus is on ammonium compounds or their equivalent in neutral nitrogen salts and the most economical means
of supply. Here, then, is a parting of the ways to expediency, and it is at this juncture that with military
influences to the fore the nitrogen developments of the past few years were led off on an uneconomical
tangent of military control. The Bureau of Mines, however, taking up the work of others, has perfected a
simple, effective means for oxidizing ammonia to nitric acid. This, beyond question, is the most important
contribution of the day. Its significance may perhaps best be brought out graphically in the accompanying
sketch.

Ammonia oxidation, it will be observed from the foregoing sketch, gives a means of supplying the military
requirement from the direct line of agricultural efficiency. From the strictly military viewpoint, it has the
objection of being a roundabout procedure. The dotted line of direct military procedure, however, has no
peace-time function, and consequently cannot be maintained in time of peace in trim for war, but must instead
be built up expressly to meet wartime exigencies. We have had an illustration of what this means in the way of
time and money, and this one ought to suffice. The agricultural channel, once built up on a basis of economic
efficiency, is open at all times. At the most, all that is required is to keep an eye to the emergency needs in the
way of oxidation equipment, a relatively simple matter. Thus, instead of the precarious procedure of trusting to
luck which characterized our pre-war attitude toward nitrogen on the one hand, or of attempting the
impossible in the way of maintaining a military program of industrial procedure in time of peace on the other,
all that is needed is a constructive program devoted expressly to the interests of economic efficiency.

THE NITROGEN OUTLOOK

There is no import duty on nitrogen, nor is there likely to be any, for nitrogen is an important cog in the
mechanism of food supply, and the peacetime emphasis, reversing the wartime order, is primarily on
cheapness and only secondarily on the point of origin. Accordingly, looking ahead, the American market
conditions, once world trade is fully restored, are due to reflect the world conditions. As indicated in Figure
18, the sudden ending of the war, with its calling off of the military requirement which had been building up
steadily since even before the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, left the world with a producing capacity 30 to 40
per cent. above normal. To what extent this apparent overproduction, amounting to some half million tons of
nitrogen, will prove real is impossible to foretell; not all of it certainly, for under the stimulus of a food
shortage the curve of normal consumption will doubtless bend upward. On the other hand, however, there is
the producing capacity of the plants not yet in operation to be taken into consideration. Whatever may be the
capacity of agriculture to absorb from the surplus, it cannot be expected to take up the full amount
immediately or without special inducement. The inference follows that price and production will come down,
to stimulate and co-ordinate with the increase in demand. Where the meeting point will be between the
upcurve of demand and the downcurve of production it is impossible to predict. It is of interest, however, to
figure in review on how the three types of industrial source, the natural, the by-product, and the fixation types,
are equipped for the very evident strife of competition implied in the situation.
 With the development of fixation, there have been a lot of unfounded statements to the effect that the day of
Chile nitrate is passing. Whenever a synthetic development comes to the fore, a peculiar fallacy of reasoning
is indulged in which ignores the fact of inherent natural worth, disregards the inescapable cost of its
duplication, and regards the synthetic achievement as giving open sesame to the natural treasure. By way of
substantiation in the case of nitrogen, the cost of producing Chile nitrate is high, amounting to around $30 per
ton. This, however, is largely contributed to by the unsystematized crudity of the operations, by the high
export tax, and by overcapitalization. But these, it will be observed, are variable factors, susceptible of
indefinite modification in keeping with the need. Chile nitrate has never made any pretense of competing
against by-product nitrogen, with its advantages in the way of low incidental producing costs and proximity to
the market. The discrepancy between the by-product supply and the total demand for nitrogen has all along
comprised the field of opportunity opening to Chile nitrate. In this its only noteworthy competitor is the
fixation industry.
The fixation sources are impossible of analysis on a definite basis of cost. Too many variable factors and
uncertainties are involved. Repeated attempts have been made, but all they have served to bring out is that
under certain conditions, as for instance of power supply, and for certain express purposes, one form of project
has an apparent margin of advantage over another, and vice versa for other conditions; but that at best the cost
of production, if not actually prohibitive, is dangerously close to the normal pre-war price of fixed nitrogen.
Back of it all is the fact that fixation has to deal with the problem of overcoming the native chemical inertia of
nitrogen, and the problem has not yet been solved at all convincingly. Always the solution advanced has called
for some special measure of relief from industrial competition, whether natural, as in the case of the
Scandinavian power supply, or political, as in the case of the American and German projects.
Fixation has been widely heralded of recent years as due not only to emancipate the world from its
dependence upon the Chilean source, but to reduce materially the cost of nitrogenous fertilizer, hence the cost
of food production, to the marked betterment of living conditions as well. In its promise of political and
economic betterment in one, it has claimed the attention of all. However, the claim of special economic
advantage coming from an industry barely, if at all, able to meet conditions even as they are, has been
overdrawn.
This does not aim to imply that there is nothing but failure ahead for fixation in the test of competition. It
has its possibilities of development into something commercially and economically as well as politically worth
while, but the existing hothouse order of upgrowth is unquestionably due for a lot of training down, and much
that is worthless is as certainly due to go. The American developments have a particularly inauspicious
economic setting in the prevailing scale of costs. The only saving alternative for them would seem to be in one
form or another of federal provision for their continued support on some such basis as that on which they were
projected, and this is unlikely, for there is no apparent reason. True, lowered nitrogen costs tend to make for a
lowering in the cost of foodstuffs, but so, for that matter, would a lowering in the cost of agricultural
implements, and any arguments that apply in the case of nitrogen apply as equally for potash, for phosphate,
for agricultural implements, for coal—in fact for industry in general.
With reference to by-product nitrogen the situation is very different. In general, the by-product sources are
of an order such that they were not materially affected one way or the other by the war, and consequently are
not due to be materially affected in the process of readjustment, except in the case of coke-oven ammonia,
where the temporary slump in the steel industry will result in a temporary slump of probably 15 to 20 per cent.
from the 1918 output. Of special significance in connection with what lies on beyond for the by-production of
nitrogen is its relationship to the progress of industrial co-ordination. The whole current trend of industrialism,
as represented in integration, volume production, and the like, is actuated in the interests of co-ordination and
the overcoming of lost motion; and nitrogen comes in for an important share in these developments.
With reference to the organic group of compounds, the outlook for the future is as uncertain as are the actual
conditions of today. The centralized development of meat packing, of animal-rendering establishments, and of
cotton ginning gave rise in their time to highly important recoveries of nitrogenous waste; but with the
forward progress of developments this usage in turn is giving way to a more advanced order. Cottonseed as a
fertilizer is giving place to a cottonseed-products industry; tankage as a fertilizer is giving place to the
artificial compounding of animal food; horses, an important contributor of agricultural nitrogen in times past,
are yielding much of their place in the sun to the automotive engine. Meanwhile, with the factor of dilution to
be overcome, our sewage disposal is employed to pollute streams and destroy the fish supply instead of being
put to useful ends. So it goes. Developments are on foot that lead in both directions, and there is no telling
how the balance is due to shift. Probably the best guess is that relatively at least it will be downward rather
than upward.
The outlook for by-product ammonia is more definite. Ammonia is the end point of material refinement; so
here the nitrogen developments hold all they get, rather than go on to lose out again in a further refinement of
usage, as in the case of the organic group. The output has increased consistently and rapidly, owing to the
transition from beehive to by-product coking operations, to the progress of centralization and co-ordination; in
other words, with reference to coke manufacture. Even now, less than half of the coal coked is treated in the
retort oven; but the beehive oven is out of the line of progress and is due to be entirely displaced. Also, the
industry is still expanding as the process of transition, with its separate potentiality for doubling the present
output of coal-product ammonia, goes forward.
So far, the recovery of by-products in connection with the use of coal has been confined in the one direction
of coke making, along with the analogous procedure of gas manufacture. But the development which has thus
started in the coke industry will not stop there. The loss of motion resulting from lack of co-ordination in the
use of coal is just as great in other directions as in that of coke making, and the advantages of integral usage
may confidently be expected to assert themselves. Already projects of the kind are coming under serious
contemplation in proposals such as those for furnishing gas to cities, for employing by-product operations
located at the mine in support of the waning natural-gas supply, and for integrated heat, light, and power
projects operating on coal with by-product recovery. Meanwhile, the motor-fuel situation is suggestive of
interesting developments ahead. There is every reason to believe that the petroleum resources can not continue
to meet the growing demand, in fact, that the occasion for support is already at hand. Whatever the nature of
these supporting developments, whether they take the form of a shale-oil industry or what, it seems certain
they will usher in an important source of by-product nitrogen.
Figure 17 summarizes the American situation with reference to chemical nitrogen, as does Figure 18 in less
detail that for the world. Organic nitrogen is omitted, partly because of the lack of information, partly because
the issues more directly involved in the situation as it stands are those of chemical nitrogen.

SUMMARY
Nitrogen, itself, is an inert gas of no particular use, but nitrogenous compounds are necessary to agriculture,
to refrigeration, to munitions manufacture, and to the applications of chemistry in general. In the native
gaseous state, it makes up about four-fifths of the atmosphere, and combined it occurs as nitrate minerals, as
organic compounds, and in carboniferous deposits. Atmospheric nitrogen is of use only after it has been
artificially compounded or fixed, a proposition which the natural inertness of nitrogen renders difficult and
expensive. The only mineral deposits of consequence are those comprising the nitrate fields of northern Chile.
The organic resources include all manner of animal and vegetable refuse. Coal-tar ammonia from retort-coke
and gas manufacture, along with some shale-oil ammonia, makes up practically the whole supply derived from
the carboniferous sources. This range of associations, including animal, vegetable, mineral, and atmospheric
sources, transgresses all established rules of resource occurrence, and consequently all regularly constituted
research. As a result the nitrogen resources and their needs for attention have never been comprehensively
investigated. This became strikingly apparent when the war, threatening swift disaster in the guise of a
nitrogen shortage, showed us up to be quite devoid of any systematic nitrogen program and precipitated an
hysterical effort to devise a makeshift one instead. The atmosphere was found to provide the only independent
source of supply available on an emergency rating; so, following the lead of the European countries, several
plants for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen were projected governmentally.
Industrially, the nitrogen sources may be classified as natural, by-product, and fixation. The natural supply
is almost wholly in the form of sodium nitrate from the Chile nitrate deposits. These are controlled and
operated by British, Chilean, German, and American capital. The American imports are largely handled by
three companies, whose system of control is effected through the medium of shipping and warehouse
facilities.
The by-product sources include nearly all of the organic nitrogen used, and the nitrogen from coal and oil
shale as well. The supply is governed as to magnitude by the progress of industrial co-ordination through the
medium of centralization in the preparing of animal, vegetable, and coal products. Thus the development and
marketing of the by-product supply tends naturally to gather to industrial combinations. These, however, are
natural developments, not developments artificially created in the interest of price control. The price of by-
product nitrogen is controlled not by trade combinations, but by the price of the product from other sources,
which is to say, by the price of Chile nitrate. Beyond that, the advantages accruing in the way of low-
producing costs do not go wholly to commercial profit but to the saving of costs with reference to the major
production, as for instance in the case of gas-works ammonia, which makes its chief contribution toward
lowering the price of gas to the consumer. The rapid development of fixation is attributable largely to political
influences, activated by conditions leading to and through the war. There are a number of projects for fixing
nitrogen, but only three have any genuine measure of industrial achievement to their credit, are fixation in
Norway, Haber synthetic ammonia fixation in Germany, and cyanamid fixation in a number of places. Three
of the four large American plants are of the last-named order; the other is a synthetic ammonia proposition. All
four were contracted for by the Government, and so far as fixation can be said to have gained an industrial
foothold in the United States it is wholly in response to the dictates of political control.
 Probably rather less than half of the nitrogen consumed is organically associated, and rather more than half
of it chemically combined. Practically all of the organic nitrogen and around one-fourth of the chemical
nitrogen is of domestic by-product derivation. So far, the balance has been supplied from Chile nitrate,
supplemented by small imports of guano, animal refuse, by-product ammonia, and cyanamid from abroad.
There is no apparent likelihood of this adjustment being materially affected as an immediate outcome of
developments with reference to fixation. These have shown themselves to be of the utmost political
significance as affording an unlimited, independent source of nitrogen supply. Their genuine economic
significance at the present stage of enforced expansion, however, is questionable. In this country, especially,
the scale of costs gives an unpromising setting. The by-product sources growing out of centralized industrial
co-ordination are in line with the trend of modern industrialism and may be looked to as assuring a steady
increase in yield, especially if the process of industrial evolution in the direction of co-ordinated economic
efficiency is adequately cultivated instead of being interfered with. In this same connection the most
significant accomplishment recorded for nitrogen, lies in the working out of a means for the oxidation of by-
product ammonia, thus rendering the growing by-product supply available for the full range of nitrogen uses.
With reference to the economic and political aspects of the outlook ahead, all else is obscured and lost to
view in the pressing need for a constructive program worked out on a comprehensive basis, in keeping with
the comprehensiveness of the resources themselves, with which to supplant the uneconomical makeshift
program brought into being by the war. The program called for is one calculated to bring out, and bring out co-
ordinately, the best there is in bacterial as well as chemical fixation, in the industrial by-product sources of
organic and chemical nitrogen, and in the province of sanitation.
 CHAPTER XXVIII
PYRITE AND SULPHUR
B A. G. W

USES OF PYRITE AND SULPHUR

Pyrite and sulphur are closely related in their most essential uses, and
one material can in many cases be substituted for the other. The largest
and most important use of these minerals is in the manufacture of
sulphuric acid, which is an essential material required for a very wide
variety of purposes, including the production of acid phosphate for
fertilizer, the manufacture of modern high-power explosives, the refining
of petroleum, pickling of iron and steel, and for a vast number of
chemical industries. The competition between pyrite and sulphur for this
purpose has gone through several stages. With the large-scale
development of Italian deposits sulphur was largely used for acid
manufacture. As the prices of sulphur were increased it became cheaper
to use pyrite, which in many localities then displaced sulphur, for this
purpose. With the rapid expansion of the American production, and
particularly with the tremendous increase in the capacity of sulphuric
acid plants for war purposes, sulphur has again been very largely used
for the manufacture of acid. The prospects since the close of the war are
that, due to the tremendous capacity of the sulphur mines of the United
States, sulphur may continue to compete with pyrite in this use.
Probably the second most important use of these materials is in the
manufacture of sulphite wood pulp. In Europe pyrite is largely used for
this purpose, while in the United States and Canada sulphur is the
principal material used. For every ton of sulphite pulp manufactured,
under the best practice, about 250 pounds of sulphur is required. In the
United States and Canada about 175,000 tons of sulphur is used annually
for this purpose, representing about 50 per cent. of the total sulphur
consumption of these countries. There are also a number of other
important purposes where sulphur is used rather than pyrite, the most
important of which are in the manufacture of agricultural sprays and
insecticides, and in the hardening of rubber. Sulphur is a primary
ingredient of black powder, and considerable quantities are still used for
that purpose. While most of the explosives used in modern warfare
require the use of sulphuric acid in their manufacture, they do not use
sulphur in its elemental form. There are many other minor chemical uses.
Substitutes for Sulphur and Pyrite.—Because of the large deposits
of sulphur now available, and of the extent and wide distribution of
pyrite deposits, and of the cheapness of both these materials, there are no
adequate commercial substitutes for them. The increase of by-product
acid, from the copper and zinc smelters and possibly the nickel smelters
of Sudbury, might be considered as the most important factors in
replacing pyrite and sulphur. As a general thing, the factors of cost and
transportation are the governing ones rather than any present or probable
scarcity of materials.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PYRITE

While pyrite is a very widely distributed mineral, there are relatively
few deposits which are of sufficient importance to enter into the world’s
commerce. This is generally due to the relatively small value of its
sulphur content per ton, usually from 40 to 45 per cent. of recoverable
sulphur; which means that it takes almost 2¹⁄₂ tons of pyrite to be
equivalent to the ton of sulphur which competes with it for many uses.
Consequently pyrite seldom moves far, unless it is so situated as to take
advantage of cheap ballast rates where little other freight is available for
ships, or unless it carries important copper or gold values, which can be
recovered after the sulphur content has been utilized. Many known
deposits, such as those in Mexico and the Western United States, remain
undeveloped because of their distance from market. In countries such as
Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Japan, and the Eastern United
States production is absorbed by the local market. Spain and Portugal,
the most important source of world supply, are favorably located to ship
to near-by European countries or to secure cheap ballast rates to the
United States, and in addition much of the ore carries several per cent. of
copper.
Norway is second in export, with a high-grade pyrite carrying copper
values, which is shipped to Sweden or across the Baltic to near-by
countries. Canada ships considerable pyrite to the near-by markets of the
United States, the Quebec product having copper values, while the
product of Ontario takes advantage of boat shipments on the Great
Lakes.
Spain and Portugal.—The deposits of Spain and Portugal are the
largest and most important in the world, furnishing approximately two-
thirds of the world supply. The district is essentially a unit, and the
principal deposits occur in a zone extending from Rio Tinto, Spain, to
San Domingo, Portugal. The combined annual production of iron and
copper pyrites for the two countries is normally almost 4 million metric
tons, 90 per cent. of which is furnished by Spain and 10 per cent. by
Portugal. About two-thirds of the total output carries copper values,
which may be recovered before the pyrite is roasted for its sulphur value
or after. When copper is to be recovered at the mine the ore is leached by
spreading it out in beds exposed to the weather and frequently stirring it
and wetting it down. The copper goes into solution and is precipitated on
scrap iron, forming cement copper. The process takes about 3 years and
the pyrite residue is shipped as washed ore. The ore is compact and
finely crystalline and carries from 48 to 51 per cent. sulphur.
Conservative estimates of ore reserves for the district give it from 300 to
400 million tons, or enough to last for one hundred years at the present
rate of production. Consequently this district is destined to long remain
the chief pyrite-producing center of the world.
The Rio Tinto Co. is the principal producer, contributing about one-
third of the total output of the whole district (Spain-Portugal). It is
owned by British and French capital. Mining is largely by open-pit
methods, and the company employs 25,000 men. The ore carries about 2
per cent. copper, making this company the largest European producer of
that metal. The reserves are estimated as 250 to 300 million tons,
representing the major part of the whole district. The Rio Tinto Co.
furnishes about 60 per cent. of the 1,000,000 tons of Spanish pyrite
normally imported by the United States.
The second principal producer is the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper
Mines (British), with about one-eighth of the total production. British
capital is predominant in the district as a whole, with the balance French
and Spanish. Huelva, Spain, is the principal point of export, located from
30 to 40 miles from the mines. Under normal conditions the pyrite
moves at cheap ballast rates, and has been sold at from $6 to $7 per long
ton (12 to 16 cents per unit of sulphur), delivered in United States ports.
Normally this Spain-Portugal district exported one-quarter of its output
to the United States, one-eighth to England, one-eighth to Holland, one-
eighth to Germany, and most of the balance to France and Belgium.
 Norway and Sweden.—Norway produces from 400 to 500 thousand
tons of pyrite per year (about 8 per cent. of the world’s total), and her
output is steadily increasing. The ore usually carries from 1 to 3 per cent.
copper and from 42 to 49 per cent. sulphur; and is free from arsenic.
Seven-eighths of the output is exported to Sweden, Germany, England
and Russia. When Sweden’s import of sulphur (about 40,000 tons) was
cut off during the war, she changed the equipment of her cellulose plants
to burn pyrite instead of sulphur and took about one-half of the
Norwegian output, since her own production of pyrite (about 30,000
tons) was of minor importance.
The Norwegian deposits are widely distributed from south of Bergen
to the extreme northern end of the peninsula. The ore is generally
massive cupriferous pyrite, occurring in flat lenses in chlorite schists in
areas of regional metamorphism. About 250,000 tons comes from the
Trondhjem district, where the Lokken mines of the Orkla Mine Co. are
the largest producers.
The northern district is second in importance, with about 150,000 tons
annual production, chiefly from the Sulitjelma mine at the Swedish
frontier, near the Polar Circle. In the eastern district the Fodal Copper &
Sulphur Co. has a production of from 75,000 to 100,000 tons. Norway
has sufficient known reserves to last for thirty years at the present rate of
production and probably for much longer. The largest reserves are in the
Trondhjem district. Sweden is also reported to have large reserves,
although there has been little development so far.
The commercial control of the mines is principally English and
Norwegian. It was reported that mines with large reserves near Narvik
were owned by German interests, but were purchased by Swedish
interests during the war.
France.—For many years France has produced about 300,000 tons of
pyrite per annum, or about 5 per cent. of the world output. The principal
deposits are at Sain-Bel, near Lyons, in the Department of Rhône. The
product is high in sulphur. The known reserves are probably from ten to
twelve million tons. The output is used for home consumption, and in the
past was supplemented by the import of Spanish pyrite, and Sicilian and
United States sulphur.
Italy.—In addition to her large sulphur production Italy has produced
a considerable quantity of pyrite, which has been used locally in the
manufacture of sulphuric acid. Pyrite production was about 300,000 tons
before the war and increased to 400,000 tons in 1916, so that Italy
produces about 6 per cent. of the world output. The pyrite contains about
45 per cent. of sulphur and a small part of it carries copper values. The
principal production comes from a district near Florence, although a
number of smaller mines are widely scattered.
Russia.—Russia has large pyrite deposits located in a belt parallel to
the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains. The Kyshtim and Sissert
districts furnish the principal output. Reports indicate a good grade of
pyrite with high sulphur content. The production has been in the
neighborhood of 150,000 tons, or about 2 per cent. of the world total.
Production had been steadily increasing up to the time of Russia’s
economic collapse, but has been limited, due to the remote location of
the deposits from the chief centres of consumption at Petrograd,
Moscow, and Odessa. It is to be expected that Russia, after she regains
her balance, will continue to import pyrite to a considerable extent, as
she has done in the past.
Germany, Austria and Hungary.—The pre-war German production
was from 200,000 to 250,000 tons of pyrite per annum, or about 4 per
cent. of the world output. About two-thirds of the output comes from
deposits near Meggen. The pyrite is estimated to run about 43 per cent.
sulphur. It is reported that the pyrite output was largely increased during
the war, as Germany had been importing from 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons
of pyrite. She continued to import some Norwegian pyrite, which is
especially desirable because of its recoverable copper content. Germany
secures a considerable amount of sulphuric acid as a by-product from
zinc smelters, which helped to make up the deficiency in her sulphur
resources.
Hungary normally produces about 100,000 tons of pyrite per annum,
chiefly from the deposits of Schemnitz.
Cyprus.—An important deposit of cupriferous pyrite is under
development in an old copper-mining region on the northwest coast of
Cyprus. Several million tons of ore are reported, containing a high
sulphur content and high copper values. It is being developed on a large
scale by the Cyprus Mines Corporation, representing United States
capital, and may be expected to become an important factor in pyrite
export.
The United States.—The pre-war production of the United States was
about 350,000 long tons, or 6 per cent. of the world’s production,
compared to an import of about 1,000,000 tons. About 40 per cent. of the
total was produced in Virginia and largely sold for use in acid-phosphate
plants from Maryland to Georgia; about 25 per cent. was produced in
California and used for local acid manufacture in the vicinity of San
Francisco; about 15 per cent. was produced in New York State; and the
balance was scattered, coming as a by-product from coal mines in Ohio,
Illinois, and Indiana, and from the zinc-mining region of southern
Wisconsin. During the war, production was increased by about 50 per
cent., but with no discoveries which promise to greatly increase the
permanent production of the country. On the whole the deposits are not
of very high quality, averaging about 40 per cent. sulphur content. Very
large reserves of pyrrhotite are located in western Virginia and eastern
Tennessee, but have not been very extensively utilized. Large reserves of
pyrite exist in Colorado, Arizona, Utah and other western states, but are
too far from the acid plants located in the East and South to compete. On
the whole, the scanty development of pyrite in the United States is due to
the competition of high-grade Spanish pyrite coming in to the Atlantic
ports at cheap ballast rates; to the import of Canadian pyrite either to
near-by points in New England or to the Great Lakes ports; to the large
production of cheap sulphur from Louisiana and Texas, which has
monopolized the sulphite pulp trade; and to the recovery of by-product
acid from copper and zinc smelters. The great increase in the production
of sulphur during and since the war is very likely still further to curtail
the market for pyrite. The production of pyrite has been in the hands of
American companies, several of the larger operations being controlled by
concerns either in the acid or fertilizer business.
Canada.—The production of pyrite in Canada has increased rapidly,
particularly during the war, to about 300,000 tons. This is due to an
increased export to the United States, principally to sulphuric-acid
plants. The principal producing areas in Canada are: (1) The district in
Quebec, not far north of the Vermont border, where there are two
operating mines and a number of promising prospects. There are large
ore reserves and the ore carries considerable copper. The principal mines
are controlled by American capital. (2) The Goudreau district, located
some 40 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie, has large ore reserves, but of
rather low grade. Thus far an American company is the principal
producer. (3) The North Pine district near Graham, Ontario, and a
considerable distance west of Port Arthur, has been a large producer of
good-grade pyrite. The principal producer was a subsidiary company of
the General Chemical Co.
There is a large reserve of pyrrhotite, estimated at about 50,000,000
tons, much of which will average over 25 per cent. sulphur, in
connection with the Sudbury nickel deposits. At present it is not
commercially important. There are considerable deposits of pyrites in
various parts of British Columbia, but these are unimportant
commercially because of their distance from any available market. The
larger part of the Canadian product is controlled by American interests,
chiefly the American Chemical Co., whose headquarters are in New
York City. A large part of the Canadian output is imported to the United
States through Chicago, Cleveland, and Buffalo; and by rail through
Vermont, Boston and to New York City.
Cuba.—An important pyrite property is being developed about twenty
miles from Cienfuegos, Province of Santa Clara, Cuba. It is reported as
containing several million tons of good-grade ore, which will average at
least 40 per cent. sulphur and may contain a recoverable copper content.
The property is being developed by United States capital, interests
connected with the Davison Chemical Corporation, of Baltimore, Md.,
who are one of the largest producers of sulphuric acid on the Atlantic
Coast. This property promises to be an important near-by source of
pyrite for the United States.
Mexico.—Important pyrite deposits are known to exist in Mexico, but
they are of no present commercial importance because of inaccessibility
and high freight rates, and unsettled political conditions. A large deposit
is reported about 30 miles inland in the State of Guerrero, containing
several million tons of high-grade pyrite of approximately 48 per cent.
sulphur content and free from arsenic.
There is no prospect that Mexico will be of any immediate importance
in the world pyrite situation.
Japan.—Japan has a small pyrite production of from 75,000 to
100,000 tons per year, or about 1¹⁄₂ per cent. of the world output. Much
of it carries copper values. The production comes from several scattered
localities. The state has reserved the ownership of the original mineral
rights, and the operators to whom they have been leased appear to be
entirely Japanese. Japan consumes her pyrite for local purposes, and
exports most of her sulphur.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SULPHUR

Italy and Sicily.—Italy had practically a monopoly of the world’s
sulphur supply until 1904, when large-scale production began in the
United States. The importance of sulphur as a world mineral began with
the use of gunpowder in the fourteenth century. Considerable export
trade was early developed and has been of increasing importance since
1830. Ninety per cent. of the Italian production has come from the Island
of Sicily.
The sulphur-bearing district of Sicily is a central belt running across
the island, extending about 100 miles east and west and 50 miles north
and south. The richer deposits are scattered as irregular lenses or basin-
like bodies, in this extensive area. The deposits of commercial value are
of sedimentary type, occurring as stratified beds or sheets in limestone,
associated with gypsum and bituminous marl. There are generally three
or four sulphur-bearing layers, separated by a few feet of barren rock.
The average thickness of the sulphur beds is from 10 to 15 feet, although
in a few places they run as high as several hundred feet. The sulphur
occurs as incrustations, pockets, or thin bands intimately associated with
the limestone. The average sulphur content of the ore mined is from 20
to 25 per cent., with a range from 8 to 50 per cent.; and in a few places it
reaches up to 90 per cent. Estimates as to the reserves of ore vary greatly,
but seem to indicate that there is from 40 to 60 million tons of ore still
unmined, which will average about 23 per cent. of sulphur content.
Mining has been mostly by hand and the ore brought out on the backs
of men. A few mines had modern hoisting machinery and trams. The
shortage of labor during the war has increased the introduction of
modern appliances in some of the newer mines. With increasing depth
the cost of mining has increased to the point where American sulphur
can compete in European markets.
The methods of extracting the sulphur from the ore have also been
extremely crude and wasteful, but in the last few years better types of
ovens have been installed, giving a much higher recovery through
improved distillation and the use of superheated steam for melting the
sulphur.
The sulphur industry of Sicily furnishes a notable example of an
attempted commercial control which developed into a governmental
control of the industry. The recent history of the industry falls into three
periods. The first extends from 1875 to 1895 and is characterized by a
rapid increase in production, from 200,000 to 400,000 tons a year, with a
corresponding decrease in selling price from $25 a ton to as low as $12 a
ton. It was a period of overproduction, due to the ease with which
shallow mining could be carried on and to the abundant supply of cheap
labor available. These conditions resulted in the development of a great
number of small mines, whose competition reduced prices. The second
period, from 1896 to 1906, begins with the formation of the Anglo-
Sicilian Sulphur Co., financed by English capital, which entered into a
five-year agreement with the principal producers, which was later
extended for an additional five years. It was primarily a marketing
organization, formed by the union of Italian and English interests to
control production, stabilize the industry, and maintain prices. It
eventually controlled from 75 to 85 per cent. of the industry. All sulphur
was purchased at about $16 per ton f.o.b. ship and the selling price
remained practically stable during the ten-year period, at an average of
$18 to $19 per ton. In spite of efforts to restrict production, the annual
output reached 550,000 tons during most of this period. At the same time
the higher prices maintained for sulphur had stimulated the use of pyrite
as a substitute. In order to maintain prices under these conditions the
excess production had to be purchased and stored, so that in 1906 a stock
of over 500,000 tons of sulphur had been accumulated in Sicily. Toward
the end of this period large-scale production began in the United States
(1904). In 1903 the United States produced less than 10,000 tons of
sulphur and was Italy’s best customer, buying over 170,000 tons in that
year. Within three years the United States was producing more than
enough to supply its own needs and was accumulating a large reserve
stock. The sudden loss of the American market and the threat of
competition in other markets brought on a crisis in the Sicilian industry,
which was intensified by the large number (30,000) of people employed
in the industry. At the termination of the agreement with the Anglo-
Sicilian company (July 31, 1906) steps were taken by the Italian
government to control the situation. The third period, from 1906 to the
present, is one of government intervention and control of the industry.
All the producers were compelled to join a company called the
“Consorzia Obbligatoria per l’Industria Solfiefera Siciliana,” organized
under a law passed in the Italian Parliament. The organization was
managed by a commission appointed by the government, and had
complete control over exports and prices. All sulphur had to be sold at
fixed price to this organization. A minimum interest was guaranteed on
the capital invested; local freight rates on sulphur for export were
reduced; sulphur stocks accumulated by the Anglo-Sicilian company
were taken over; and a campaign of price-cutting was started in the
American market, which resulted in a decrease of several dollars a ton in
the selling price of sulphur. A market agreement was soon reached and
prices recovered. A number of the smaller mines closed down and a law
was passed controlling and restricting the granting of new concessions.
Production declined to 350,000 tons in 1913. At the opening of the war
the principal United States producer was preparing to enter into more
active competition with Italian sulphur, particularly in the French
markets. As a result of the war, Italian production dropped to only
180,000 tons in 1917, largely due to labor shortage; about half of the
surplus stocks were used up, leaving only 160,000 tons on hand at the
end of 1917; and prices increased so that refined sulphur sold at about
$80 per ton and inferior grades at $55 per ton, f.o.b. Sicilian ports. The
increasing cost of producing sulphur, due to deeper mining and increased
labor costs, will make it difficult to compete in the European markets
with the greatly expanded production of the cheaper American article.
Sulphur has been produced in several districts in the Italian peninsula,
particularly Romagna, Marches, Campania and Calabria. The yield from
these districts has been decreasing in recent years and has generally been
only from 25,000 to 30,000 tons. The sulphur content of the ores ranges
from 20 to 30 per cent. The deposits are of limited extent and are being
mined at greater depths. The production has been largely used for local
agricultural purposes, in preparations for use against vine diseases.
The United States.—Until 1904, the production of sulphur in the
United States was considerably less than 10,000 tons per year and the
bulk of our requirements had to be met by import from Sicily. From 1904
to 1914 the United States produced enough for its own use and at the end
of this period was supplying Canada, had begun to actively enter the
French and German market, and in addition had accumulated a reserve
stock, in the hands of the producers, of approximately one million long
tons. Figures recently made public in connection with litigation over
patent rights show that half of this stock was accumulated in a single
year, 1912, when production reached 790,000 long tons, of which only
300,000 tons was marketed and the balance of 490,000 tons went into
storage. The United States production has exceeded that of Italy since
1912, although the sales have been less, because sulphur was being
withdrawn from stocks in Italy while stocks in the United States were
being increased. The net effect of the war was a four-fold increase in the
amount of sulphur sold in the United States, without any reduction in
stocks; while in Italy production fell off 50 per cent. and stocks on hand
were reduced by the same percentage.
From 98 to 99 per cent. of the United States production has come from
the Gulf Coast region of the states of Louisiana and Texas. A number of
other localities in West Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada
have surface deposits, usually of limited extent, which have been worked
on a small scale, but have declined in importance with the development
of the better-grade and more accessible deposits of the Gulf Coastal
region.
The occurrence of sulphur in the Gulf Coast region is in connection
with a peculiar formation known as “Saline Domes” or “Mounds.” Over
twenty of these domes have been located, scattered in an area 200 miles
long, extending through western Louisiana and eastern Texas, and
generally within 50 miles of the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial deposits of
petroleum, sulphur, and salt have been developed in connection with
these domes, but so far not more than one of the minerals has been
developed to commercial degree in a single dome. Sulphur was
discovered when drilling was being carried on for oil. So far, three
domes have been developed for sulphur, namely that owned by the
Union Sulphur Co. at Sulphur, La. (1903), that owned by the Freeport
Sulphur Co. at Freeport, Texas (1912), and that of the Texas-Gulf
Sulphur Co. near Matagordo, Texas (1919). Two other domes are under
exploration and a number of others may possibly contain sulphur.
The sulphur occurs at a depth of 300 to 1,200 feet and is associated
with limestone and underlain by gypsum. The surface area of the
producing domes varies from 200 to 1,500 acres. Exploration is done by
drilling at a cost of $200,000 to $300,000, and the cost of a complete
plant is several million dollars. The sulphur cannot be mined by shafts,
due to the quicksands and the poisonous gases encountered. The deposit
at Sulphur, Louisiana, remained unworked for almost 40 years after its
discovery before a satisfactory process was developed to mine it. This is
known as the “Frasch Process” and consists of the sinking of wells to the
sulphur deposit, each well being lined with a 10 to 12 in. pipe. Smaller
pipes are placed inside, so that superheated water can be brought in
contact with the sulphur ore, which is melted and forced to the surface by
compressed air. The sulphur on cooling is ready for market and is over
99 per cent. pure. Each of the three plants in operation is equipped with a
boiler capacity of over 20,000 h.p. for superheating the water, and
requires about a million and a quarter barrels of fuel oil per year. The
origin of these domes is believed to be due to deep-seated igneous
intrusions, resulting in the alteration of gypsum and the crystallization of
salt and sulphur, which has caused an upbowing of the strata. Because of
the nature of the formation and the irregularity of the deposits it is
impossible to accurately estimate the reserves of sulphur.
With the addition of two new plants since 1912, the United States now
has a sulphur-producing capacity of about 1¹⁄₄ million tons per year, or
four times the normal sales before the war. If an outlet is to be found for
this excess sulphur, it must compete with pyrite in the domestic market
or with Sicilian sulphur in the European markets. In the latter part of
1919 prices of $14 to $15 per ton f.o.b. mines were quoted, which
indicated that an effort was being made to secure part of the acid trade
which formerly used pyrite.
There is no element of political control in the United States sulphur
industry, beyond the temporary measures taken during the war in
licensing export and allocation of consumption. The commercial control
is entirely in the hands of American companies. The Union Sulphur Co.
has been endeavoring to prevent the use of the improved “Frasch
Process” by the other companies which are competing with it. If the
claim of infringement of patent rights should be sustained, it would give
the Union company control of the situation similar to that which it had
before the development of the two newer companies, and might result in
the restriction of output and maintenance of prices.
Japan.—Japan takes third rank in the production of sulphur, although
it is of minor importance, compared to either the United States or Italy.
The production of sulphur in Japan has slowly increased from 15,000
long tons in 1900 to 60,000 tons in 1913, or about 7 per cent. of the
world output. The domestic consumption is very small and about 90 per
cent. of the output was exported, chiefly to Australia, the west coast of
the United States and Canada, and to China and India. During the war
the output increased to a maximum of about 100,000 tons, but in 1918
production was considerably curtailed by the great advance in freight
rates to Australia, which had been purchasing about one-half of the
Japanese output.
The sulphur occurs in surface deposits of limited extent and seldom
reaches 100 feet in thickness. The deposits are generally of the solfataric
type and occur in the numerous areas of volcanic activity. The majority
of the productive areas are nearly circular in outline, and indicate that
they were formed by deposition in crater lakes. In some cases they are
stratified and overlain by fine brown clayey or tufaceous material
derived partly from the surrounding rocks and partly from the sulphur
itself. Other deposits of minor importance may have been produced by
impregnation. The ore mined runs from 50 to 60 per cent. sulphur.
Deposits below 40 per cent. sulphur are seldom worked.
Approximately two-thirds of the production has come from the
southwestern section of the Island of Hokkaido. Four mines average
about 10,000 tons production each per year, and the remainder of the
production comes from 10 to 12 smaller operations, ranging from the
vicinity of Mount Daiton, in Taiwan (Formosa), to the Kurile Islands.
There is no accurate estimate of ore reserves available. One of the
most important mines was estimated as containing several million tons of
50 per cent. ore. The reserves are probably sufficient to maintain present
production for many years. The lack of shipping facilities has
handicapped production, and there seems little likelihood that the relative
importance of Japan in the sulphur industry will increase to any great
extent.
The sulphur mines are all operated by Japanese. The state reserves the
right of original ownership of all minerals, except a few placer deposits.
Right of working is granted to Japanese companies or individuals
according to priority of application. The mining law, however,
acknowledges the rights of any corporation organized by aliens under
Japanese law.
Great Britain.—Great Britain has an estimated annual by-product
recovery of from 30,000 to 40,000 tons of elemental sulphur. The
process of recovery is known as the Chance-Claus process, and is
applied in connection with the Le Blanc soda process. It is based upon
the decomposition of calcium sulphate in vat waste by means of carbon
dioxide, and the recovery of sulphur from the sulphuretted hydrogen gas
thus generated.
Other Countries.—The production of sulphur outside of the United
States, Italy and Japan is of minor importance.
Northern Chile has a small production of sulphur from the volcanoes
of Tacora and Chupiquina. The reserves are estimated as quite large, but
the high elevation (14,000 to 20,000 ft.) and poor transportation have
restricted production to local uses in the vineyard districts of Chile. The
production as reported had gradually increased to about 6,000 tons in
1913 and is reported to have doubled since then.
Spain produces about 10,000 tons of sulphur annually, from low-grade
deposits located in the neighborhood of Almeria. The larger figures often
reported are in terms of low-grade ore mined.
Austria is credited with a production of from 10 to 15 thousand tons of
crude sulphur ore, probably representing only 2 or 3 thousand tons of
actual sulphur.
The largest sulphur mine in Mexico is located at Cerritos, 25 miles
south of Guadalcazar, San Luis Potosi. Fifteen years ago it was
purchased by an American company, the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co.
It was later leased to German interests. The small output of a few
thousand tons was shipped to Germany before the war. There are a
number of deposits in San Luis Potosi in addition to the one at Cerritos.
It has been reported several times that a British company was about to
operate the sulphur deposits of the Mexican volcano, Popocatepetl, near
Mexico City. Statements regarding the deposits in the volcano are
conflicting, but investigations indicate that their magnitude has been
much exaggerated. Many other deposits occur in connection with local
volcanic areas, but so far are of little economic value because of
inaccessibility.
There are a number of deposits of sulphur in the Aleutian Islands
(Alaska), probably containing considerable sulphur, but partially covered
by glaciers and difficult of access. It is doubtful whether they could be
developed in the face of the competition of the cheap sulphur from the
coastal plain district of the United States.

CHANGES IN PRACTICE
No very far-reaching changes in practice are likely to occur in the near
future. The exhaustion of the surface sulphur deposits in Italy and the
necessity for deep mining is making necessary improvement and
installation of more modern methods there. Improved methods in the
refining of sulphur are also being installed whereby the losses under the
old calcarone method will be largely eliminated. The consumption of
sulphur for sulphite wood pulp can be considerably reduced by the
general utilization of the improved practice which is already used by the
best plants. In localities where pyrite is available this material may be
used in the pulp industry to replace sulphur. In case competition develops
between the three large sulphur companies in the United States, and the
price of sulphur is considerably reduced, it may result in the use of this
material to a larger extent in the sulphuric-acid industry. The sulphur
burners can be installed much more quickly and cheaply than the
furnaces required to roast pyrite, and after once being installed the
amount of labor and care required in their operation is less. The
increased recovery of sulphuric acid as a by-product from copper and
zinc smelters will probably represent an increasing factor in competition
with acid made either from pyrite or sulphur. The further increase of this
source in the United States is handicapped by the location of many of the
copper smelters in the west, at long distances from the market for
sulphuric acid, which is largely in the eastern and southern states. New
processes are being experimented with, for the production of elementary