Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
What is more fun than learning about sulphur at Spark After Dark?
A) Nothing
B) Literally nothing
C) I live for this stuff
D) All of the above
We'll generously accept A, B, or C.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
In one sentence, Sultech's mission is best described as:
A) Make better sulphur
B) Help crops grow better
C) Use resources more intelligently
D) All of the above — and honestly, that's not a bad mission statement
D) All of the Above
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
Which of these things is most stereotypically Albertan?
A) A golden canola field
B) A nodding oil pump jack
C) A rodeo
D) All of the above — this IS Alberta
D) All of the Above
And Sultech touches at least two of those three.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
True or False: The original name for Sultech was going to be YellowStuff.
False
But actually, that’s got a ring to it.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
Which two Alberta industries teamed up, almost by accident, to create Sultech's entire reason for existing?
A) Energy
B) Agriculture
C) Both: the original Alberta power couple
C) Both
Sour Oil and gas produces the sulphur. Agriculture needs it. Sultech is the matchmaker.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
A cowboy's spur was originally designed to do what?
A) Look incredibly cool
B) Signal a horse to move forward or change gait
C) Scrape mud off boots
D) Start a dance-off
B) To signal the horse
Fashion was a bonus. Function came first. (Not unlike micronized sulphur, honestly.)
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
Sultech founder Murray MacKinnon kept the dream alive even though …
A) People said it would never work
B) It was really hard work
C) It cost him a lot
D) All of the above
D) All of the above, You could say Murray is a driven, stubborn, and tenacious founder.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
True or False: A chuckwagon was basically a food truck before food trucks existed except it also chased you at 60 km/h.
True
(Mostly true. The chasing part is optional.) Chuckwagons fed cowboys on cattle drives. Today they race around a track at Stampede. Evolution is crazeee.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
Canola flowers in bloom and sulphur powder have something obvious in common. What is it?
A) A questionable smell
B) Bright, brilliant yellow colour
C) Identical particle size
D) They're both harvested in fall
B) Their yellow colour
Alberta in canola season looks like someone spilled sulphur across the prairies. We see this as a feature.
Boots, Spurs & Bragging Rights
The Calgary Stampede has an official nickname that's been bragged about for over a century. What is it?
A) Wildest Week in the West
B) Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
C) Canada's Country Classic
D) The Great Prairie Roundup
B) Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth
Established 1912. Still accurate.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
How would you best describe the size of space?
A) Big
B) Really big
C) Mind-bogglingly, incomprehensibly, existentially big
D) All of the above, pick your existential crisis
D) All of the Above
(Neil Degrasse-Tyson would agree.)
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
TWO TRUTHS & A LIE: Pick the Faker
A) Sulphur is found on Jupiter's moon, Io
B) Sulphur is found here on Earth
C) Sulphur is only found in Crossfield, Alberta
C is the Lie.
Sulphur is literally everywhere in the universe. Alberta just happens to do the most interesting things with it.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
If Sultech ever expanded to Mars, hypothetically, what would the operation need first?
A) Crops
B) Water
C) Soil microbes to oxidize sulphur
D) Probably all three, plus a very thick parka
D) All three (and good luck with the commute)
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
True or False: Astronauts have successfully grown plants on the International Space Station.
True
NASA's Veggie project has grown lettuce, radishes, and other crops in space. Sulphur deficiency in orbit: TBD.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
Quick! Which weighs more?
A) A black hole
B) A full Calgary Stampede breakfast (pancakes, sausage, the works)
A) a black hole
(The Stampede breakfast puts up a good fight though)
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
Where in the universe can sulphur be found?
A) On Earth
B) On other planets
C) On moons (looking at you, Io)
D) All of the above, sulphur gets around
D) All of the above.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
New stars are born inside enormous clouds of gas and dust. What are these clouds called?
A) Galaxies
B) Nebulae
C) Asteroid belts
D) Quasars
B) Nebulae.
Giant stellar nurseries. Like a maternity ward, but infinitely larger and considerably more explosive.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
True or False: Every single atom in your body was once inside a star.
True
You are, quite literally, made of stardust. Carl Sagan said it first, but we're saying it at Spark After Dark.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
One of Jupiter's moons is so drenched in sulphur compounds it looks yellow-orange from space. Which one?
A) Mars's Phobos
B) Saturn's Titan
C) Jupiter's Io
D) The OG Moon (it's had a rough time)
C) Io.
Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system and basically a sulphur-coated chaos ball. Relatable.
Cosmic Cowboys: Stars, Space & Sulphur
Where was sulphur, like most heavier elements, originally forged?
A) Deep in Earth's oceans
B) Inside dying stars during stellar explosions
C) In Earth's molten core
D) By lightning (very dramatic lightning)
B) inside stars
Sulphur is literally stardust. Every bag of SulGro has a stellar origin story.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
True or False: Sultech's ambition is focused on Canada and the U.S.
False: they're scaling from Alberta to global markets.
Alberta-born, globally grown. Sound familiar? (Looking at you, canola.)
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
Alberta punches above its weight. What is it genuinely famous for?
A) Energy
B) Agriculture
C) Innovation
D) All of the above, obviously
D) All of the above!
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
Sultech is proudly headquartered in...
A) Alberta, Canada
B) Houston, Texas
C) Canberra, Australia
D) Murray’s Garage
A) Alberta
Although it used to be D!
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
What happens to sulphur in soil that ISN'T micronized?
A) It works immediately and perfectly
B) It oxidizes slowly, sometimes taking years to become plant-available
C) It disappears mysteriously
D) Cows eat it
B) slow oxidation.
Traditional sulphur can take 1-3 years to become plant-available. Sultech's micronized version? Much faster.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
Which Alberta industry technically produces the sulphur that Sultech then transforms?
A) Oil and gas
B) Agriculture
C) Film and television (Yellowstone effect)
D) Tourism
A) oil and gas
Sulphur is removed from sour natural gas and oil during processing. Sultech's genius was seeing the opportunity in the pile.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
What IS a circular economy, anyway?
A) Throwing things away efficiently
B) Turning one industry's output into another's valuable input
C) Drawing circles on a whiteboard in meetings
D) Recycling coffee cups and calling it done
B) Turning one industry's output into another's valuable input
The circular economy keeps resources in use as long as possible. Sultech lives this, not just talks it.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
True or False: Sultech has stayed close to home and haven't explored international markets yet.
False
Sultech has been to the UAE, Japan, Australia, and more. Global sulphur diplomacy is real.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
Sultech's newest Alberta facility announced with Canlin Energy is designed to produce how much product per year?
A) 50,000 tonnes annually
B) 50 tonnes (a good start)
C) 500 tonnes
D) 5 million tonnes (that's a lot of sulphur)
A — 50,000 tonnes.
Made-in-Alberta, feeding the world. Not bad for a by-product.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
What makes Sultech's approach a 'circular economy', that hot buzzword everyone uses but few actually do?
A) One industry's leftover becomes another industry's high-value input
B) They clean the air
C) They reuse all farm water
D) Their office chairs are arranged in a circle
A) One industry's leftover becomes another industry's high-value input
Energy sector's waste sulphur becomes Sultech's premium agricultural product. That's the loop.
Energy + Agriculture: Better Together
Sultech's sulphur doesn't come from a mine. Where does it actually start out?
A) Mined from volcanic pits
B) Recovered as a by-product of sour oil and gas processing
C) Filtered from seawater
D) Recycled plastic, somehow
B) oil and gas processing
It's a by-product of energy production that would otherwise just sit in giant yellow piles. Sultech gives it a second life.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
After micronization, the particles are immediately stabilized. Why does that matter?
A) So they don't stick back together and undo all the hard work
B) For colour consistency
C) To make them float
D) Legal reasons
A) to prevent re-clumping
Particle stabilization ensures uniform size and consistent field performance every time.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
At what speed is Sultech’s molten sulphur injected into the water during the micronization process?
A) The top speed of a sprinting cheetah (110 Km/hr)
B) Average speed of a commercial jet (950 km/hr)
C) The top speed of a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ (480km/h)
D) The speed of sound (1,235 km/h)
C) 480 km/hr (The top speed of a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+)
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
Sultech's micronization process starts with molten sulphur being blasted into water. What does this rapid collision do?
A) Makes a big mess
B) Fractionates sulphur into ultra-fine particles
C) Creates steam power
D) Smells great
B) shatters it into ultra-fine particles
High-velocity injection into a controlled water-polymer system. Fancy way of saying 'we make it tiny on purpose.'
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
A micron is how small exactly?
A) One thousandth of a millimeter
B) One millionth of a meter
C) One tenth of a centimeter
D) Really, really small (official unit)
B) one millionth of a meter
Or to put it another way: very, very small.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
What is Sultech's official brand tagline?
A) So small it's invisible. So powerful it's indispensable.
B) Reach for the stars, kiddo
C) Future Fertilizer
D) Sulphur is Sexy
A) So small it's invisible. So powerful it's indispensable.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
TWO TRUTHS & A LIE — which one's the faker?
A) SulGro can be applied as a liquid suspension
B) SulGro can be applied as a dry powder
C) SulGro glows in the dark
C is the Lie. SulGro doesn't glow in the dark.
Although honestly, glow-in-the-dark sulphur would be incredible marketing.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
When you massively increase the surface area of sulphur particles, what happens?
A) Faster oxidation in soil
B) Better crop uptake
C) Improved fertilizer efficiency
D) All of the above — it's a clean sweep
D) All of the above
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
Sultech's #1 secret weapon, the thing that makes their sulphur work better than the competition, is:
A) Particle size
B) A secret colour coating
C) Temperature tricks
D) Luck and good vibes
A) particle size
Smaller particles, dramatically more surface area, dramatically faster results. Science is cool.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
What's doing the REAL underground work in the soil, turning sulphur into something crops can actually use?
A) Microscopic soil microbes
B) Tiny invisible cowboys
C) Tiny astronauts
D) Tiny ants with briefcases
A) soil microbes
Billions of microorganisms oxidize sulphur into plant-available sulphate. Nature's unpaid workforce.
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
Which dissolves in water faster?
A) A sugar cube
B) Powdered sugar
B) powdered sugar, every time.
More surface area = faster action. That's micronization in a nutshell (or a very tiny particle).
Micronized Magic: Tiny but Mighty!
Sultech particles are under 30 microns. For scale, that's roughly:
A) The width of a human hair
B) A grain of rice
C) A postage stamp
D) A loonie
A) the width of a human hair
Sultech's particles are smaller than a human hair. Small but mighty doesn't even begin to cover it.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
If sulphur were a crayon colour, what would it be called?
A) Fiery Red
B) Blazing Yellow
C) Regal Purple
D) Ocean Blue
B) Blazing Yellow
Classic. Unmistakable. Very on-brand for a company based in Alberta's canola country.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
True or False: Without enough sulphur, plants struggle to build protein, even with plenty of nitrogen.
True
Sulphur and nitrogen are basically partners in crime for plant protein production.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
TWO TRUTHS & A LIE — spot the faker:
A) Sulphur helps plants make protein
B) Sulphur is found naturally in soil
C) Plants only need sulphur once in their life
C is the Lie.
Plants need a steady sulphur supply throughout the growing season, not a one-time hit.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
Which of these everyday things actually contains sulphur?
A) Your hair
B) Eggs
C) Your muscles
D) All of the above — you are basically sulphur
D) All of the Above
About 140 grams of sulphur lives in the average human body. You contain multitudes.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
What's sulphur's symbol on the periodic table?
C) just the letter S
Simple. Iconic. Like Alberta beef.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
Cleaner air laws reduced industrial emissions: great for breathing, awkward for farming. What's the surprise side effect?
A) More weeds
B) Less sulphur reaching fields via rainfall
C) Drones multiplied
D) Bugs got bigger
B) Less sulphur reaching fields
Rain used to carry sulphur from industrial pollution. Cleaner air = less natural sulphur top-up for soil.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
True or False: The sulphur in your breakfast cereal was once forged inside a dying star.
True!
Your Cheerios are cosmic. You're welcome.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
Sulphur is one of the big four macro nutrients that crops need. What are the other three? (Hint: farmers shout this acronym constantly.)
A) NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium)
B) FYI (Fluorine, Yttrium, Iodine)
C) OMG (Oxygen, Magnesium, Gallium)
D) NBD (Nitrogen, Boron, Dubnium)
A) NPK
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Sulphur are a farmer's dream team.
Sulphur: The Unexpected Element
What does pure sulphur actually smell like?
A) Rotten eggs
B) Basically nothing — it's almost odorless
C) Maple syrup
D) Gasoline
B) Basically nothing
Plot twist! The rotten-egg stink comes from sulphur COMPOUNDS, not pure sulphur itself.
.svg)