USES OF SULFUR

The most important use of sulfur is for sulfuric acid production. Other uses range from dusting powder for roses to rubber vulcanization to sulfurasphalt pavements. Flower sulfur is used in match production and in certain pharmaceuticals. Sulfur is also an additive in high pressure lubricants.

Sulfur can replace 30–50% of the asphalt in the blends used for road construction. Road surfaces made from asphalt-sulfur blends have nearly double the strength of conventional pavement, and it has been claimed that such roads are more resistant to climatic conditions. The impregnation of concrete with molten sulfur is another potential large sulfur use.

Concretes impregnated with sulfur have better tensile strength and corrosion resistance than conventional concretes. Sulfur is also used to produce phosphorous pentasulfide, a precursor for zinc dithiophosphates used as corrosion inhibitors. Sulfur reacts with nitrogen to form polymeric sulfur nitrides (SNx) or polythiazyls. These polymers were found to have the optical and electrical properties of metals.