FRASCH PROCESS

method of mining deep-lying sulfur invented by the German-born U.S. chemist Herman Frasch; it consists of forcing superheated water, above the temperature at which sulfur melts (about 116 C, or 241 F) into the deposit. The liquid sulfur, which is more than 99 percent pure, is pumped to the surface. The liquid mixture of sulfur and water brought up is discharged into bins, where the sulfur is allowed to solidify. Frasch first successfully mined sulfur by this process at Sulfur Mine, Louisiana, in 1894. In 1895 the Union Sulphur Company was organized with his help to produce Frasch-process sulfur. Other companies soon began production from deposits located near the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Louisiana.