Is sour crude or sour gas a potential source of Se and Te?

Abstract

Increasing dependence on high sulphur 'sour' crude oil combined with increasingly stringent requirements on the sulphur content of processed fuels has rapidly made sour crude and sour gas the major commercial sources of sulphur. Production is outstripping demand, resulting in large S stockpiles. Since other chalcogens, Se and Te in particular, could be concentrated by the same processes that concentrate S, sour crude has been suggested as a possible source of Te for photovoltaics. The possibilities are explored for both Se and Te in the present paper. Suppressed concentrations of Se in crude oil and gas relative to sulphur and the even lower likely concentrations of Te mitigate against this prospect.

A system dynamics model of tellurium availability for CdTe PV

“…For example, the Emperor mine in Fiji, an important Au–Te mine, has reported Te concentrations ranging from 89.8 ppm to an estimated maximum of 5796 ppm . Finally, we exclude other potential resources such as ocean crusts and sour crude oil and gas . Illustrative growth rates for direct mining are shown along with other inputs to this module in Table .…”