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 sulphur from these sulphur fumes. If these are successful on a large scale, material from this source may supply any future markets located in the west, and might compete with the Japanese sulphur which has formerly been imported in our Pacific Coast States.