Gaylord Process Technology
The chemical process formerly used in Bogalusa to manufacture DMSO and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) was unique in that it ultimately relied biorenewable inputs.
The old Gaylord plant received a portion of the Kraft black liquor generated by the Temple Inland paper mill, which was used as a sulfur alkylating agent to make DMS. The crude dimethyl sulfide product was purified by distillation and could then be used to produce DMSO.
When Gaylord closed its Bogalusa plant in 2010, it changed its process technology to manufacture DMS from methanol and hydrogen sulfide gas via gas phase thioetherification. This is the dominant method used worldwide to make DMS and there are no longer any producers practicing the original lignin-based process. An interetsing footnote is the naturopathic belief that DMSO derived from ‘natural’ raw materials (i.e. lignin obtained from pine trees) has unusual medicinal properties relative to petrochemically derived DMSO. There would seem to be no scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.
DMSO produced by the discontinued lignin-based process can be distinguished analytically from petrochemically produced DMSO (using methanol / hydrogen sulfide) using high resolution mass spectroscopy (HRMS). This is due to the higher abundance of C14 isotopes present in lignin-derived DMS.
Read more about this topic: Gaylord Chemical Corporation
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