Herman Frasch

Herman Frasch (born Dec. 25, 1851, Gaildorf, Württemberg—died May 1, 1914, Paris) was a U.S. chemist who devised the sulfur mining process named in his honour. The Frasch process, patented in 1891, was first used successfully in Louisiana and in east Texas. It made possible the exploitation of extensive sulfur deposits otherwise obtainable only at prohibitive expense.

Emigrating to the U.S. in 1868, Frasch worked as a chemist in Philadelphia and Cleveland, and in 1885 he organized the Empire Oil Company, Petrolia, Ont. For this firm he devised a method (also called the Frasch process) of removing sulfur from crude oil. He also patented processes for manufacturing white lead, sodium carbonate, and carbon for the filaments in electric light bulbs. The Union Sulphur Company, of which he was president, became the world’s leading sulfur-mining firm.