Bituminous impurity in the elemental sulphur from the Mishraq deposit

The bituminous impurity incorporated with the elemental sulphur in the Mishraq deposit was separated by solvent extraction. The extract was further fractionated by column chromatography and the fractions were studied spectroscopically (i.r. u.v., and p.m.r.) The observation that the bituminous material is basically asphaltic (ca. 80% of the total weight, precipitated by straight-chain pentane) with no detection of light components, coupled with the p.m.r. results on carbon type distribution, may add support to the existing theories about the origin of elemental sulphur in the Mishraq region. Elemental analysis of bitumen samples isolated from Frasch sulphur when compared with those isolated from borehole samples using identical isolation techniques may indicate that a reaction between elemental sulphur and the bituminous impurity is taking place under the thermal conditions of the Frasch Process.