December 21, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

Tests prove sulphur feed poisoning

Bob Ritter of Cincinnati said both an autopsy on one of his calves and testing of feed samples came up positive for a very high level of sulphur. …Sulfuric acid is used in the process to make ethanol and a by-product is corn gluten and what is called distilled grain. They are used as livestock feed.

Ritter said his sick calves became lethargic and appeared to be in a daze, but some would fight when he tried doctoring them. Some of his other calves had shoved their heads against fences until they hung themselves or dropped.

The poisoning is known as polioencephalomalacia….

(Full Story at dailyiowegian.com)
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See also: Recent cattle problems linked to by-product feeds; Breakthrough in ‘miniature’ cattle case, and Sulfur in Beef Cattle Mineral Nutrition

Posted in Pollution: Health Issues | Print | No Comments »

December 21, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

Exxon Mobil and China Petroleum & Chemical, or Sinopec, will likely benefit from demand for cleaner burning fuel in Vietnam after the country cuts the amount of sulfur allowed in diesel, analysts said.

Vietnam National Petroleum and Saigon Petroleum will have to pay more for diesel imports after the acceptable level of sulfur, a pollutant, was reduced by half to 0.25 percent. *

Full Story at THANHNIENNEWS.com

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* Note by folc.ca: That will be a reduction to 400 ppm compared to the new North-American standard for ultra-low-sulphur diesel of 15 ppm. Obviously Exxon Mobil and Sinopec find it is a lot cheaper for them to dispose of their waste sulphur through polluting the Vietnamese environment with SO2 emissions than to clean up their act.
The downside of that news item of course is that a lot more waste sulphur will be added to the world’s excess waste sulphur inventory, thereby lessening the market potential for Alberta’s waste sulphur and increasing the probability that waste sulphur will be stored in Lamont County.

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, World Sulphur Glut, Ultra-Low-Sulphur Diesel, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

December 20, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

Canadian company to build $4 billion project Sherwood Park News

Posted in World Sulphur Glut, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs | Print | No Comments »

December 14, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

English.eastday.com; 13/12/2006 16:37

About 40 residents in a city in northeast China were hospitalized after a sulfur dioxide spill from a petrochemical company, local government sources said today.

The spill occurred around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday at the Jinzhou Petrochemical Industrial Co Ltd, in Liaoning Province, according to the Jinzhou City Work Safety Administration.

The leak lasted ten minutes and five kilograms of sulfur dioxide were released, the administration said.

All the residents who fell ill complained of pain in the throat and chest, and were taken to nearby hospitals.

A two-millimeter crack on a pipe led to the spill, according to the administration.

Xinhua

Posted in Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »

December 14, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

Ross Business Consulting, News OnlineKiev, 2006 12 12

Source

Kazakhstan to look at oil[- and sulphur]  transit discounts for Ukraine

Kazakhstan will consider a 40-percent discount on oil transit and a 30-percent discount on sulfur transportation from Kazakhstan to Ukrainian sea ports and border crossings with third countries. This is provided for by the protocol signed by Ukrainian-Kazakhstani intergovernmental commission for economic partnership.

Alongside this, Kazakhstan will look into creation of competitive tariffs for Uzbek cotton transit via Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan will report the results to Ukraine within a month. The parties will also keep working on the new Silk Road linking China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Western Europe.

Posted in World Sulphur Glut | Print | No Comments »

December 13, 2006 by Walter Schneider.

The West Virginia Record

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

By John O’Brien - Charleston Bureau

CHARLESTON — On a clear day, it’s said a person can see forever.

On a windy day five years ago, the citizens of Mason County may have been able to see a blue cloud of sulfur rolling toward them over the Ohio River.

“It just depended on the weather conditions,” AEP Director of Media Relations Pat Hemlepp said. “If it was windy …”

That cloud, part water and part sulfur trioxide, helped spawn a lawsuit against AEP that ended with a settlement being recently reached in an Ohio federal court.

The settlement, entered Dec. 6, sets certain limits on sulfuric acid emissions from American Electric Power’s coal-burning General James M. Gavin Power Plant, located just across the Ohio River from Mason County in Cheshire, Ohio. (Full Story, off-site)

Posted in Acid Rain, Emission Incidents & Issues, Sulphur-Dioxide | Print | No Comments »