piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (02/06/86)
I believe that the rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide. Yes, it is a poisonous gas. There is often a lot of sulfur in fossil fuel. This is true of oil as well as coal. I believe that without the catalysis, the sulfur is burned to form sulfur oxide. The catalysis causes the sulfur to combine with hydrogen which is abundant in burning hydrocarbons. Any chemist out there care to confirm this? The EPA has been trying to decide what to do about sulfur for a long time. I don't expect anything to be done until a Democrat gets into the White House however. For the near future, we will just have to live with it. Richard Piner piner@pur-phy.UUCP