I am in search of naturally occuring sulfer in concentration, or an economical means of isolation/purification. at present i am experimenting with pyrites.

i require cheap purified sulfur for producing my own black powder.

the powder is not to act as an initiator, it is for muzzleloaders and hobby cannons.

If you're experimenting with pyrite, I would recommend reacting the pyrite with a strong acid such as sulfuric or muriatic to generate H2S, and then bubble this gas (warning: This stuff is pretty toxic and smells terrible) into NaOH solution, making sulfur and water. The sulfur should precipitate out as a yellowish-white fluff, and can be filtered off with a coffee filter and dried.

 

Need I say "Don't hurt yourself"? Or "If you do hurt yourself, I'm not liable"?

"bubble this gas (warning: This stuff is pretty toxic and smells terrible) into NaOH solution, making sulfur and water."

No it doesn't.

My mistake, I meant NaOCl, not NaOH. The sodium hypochlorite oxidizes the H2S to sulfur, with salt and water as byproducts.

Unless I'm missing something else?

Hypochlorites are rather alkaline; any excess alkali is likely to dissolve sulphur.

 

The classic solution to the problem is to burn part of the pyrites to give SO2 and use that as the oxidant

2 H2S + SO2 --> 3S + 2 H2O