In addition to its farming benefits, gypsum is a major component of wallboard used in construction.
According to the Western Farm Press, gypsum is considered to be an ideal soil amendment for improving soil's chemical composition, enhancing and maintaining soil structure and preventing detrimental runoff. It's also an effective fertilizer: the chemicals in gypsum are critical to plant growth. Gypsum comes in several forms, each with minor differences.
Naturally Occuring Gypsum
The evaporation of tide pools often results in the formation of natural gypsum compounds.
Some gypsum products are naturally-occuring and can be collected and redistributed from sources in nature without chemical processing. A common source of this type of gypsum is evaporation. The constituent elements of gypsum are often present in marine environments in sediments. As water evaporates, many of those sediments remain, and some of the chemicals in them bind together into chemical compounds like gypsum. Typically, this process occurs in tidal zones, where sea water recedes and tidal pools are able to completely evaporate. These deposits can grow quite large over time, and most natural gypsum is collected from mining. One of the major disadvantages to natural gypsum is that it's likely to contain impurities.
Flue Gas Desulfurization Gypsum
The technology in coal-fired power plants that helps to control pollution creates synthetic gypsum as a byproduct.
One of the primary sources of synthetic gypsum is from flue gas,the waste exhaust of coal-fired power plants. Most modern coal power plants install technology on smoke stacks called "scrubbers" that are designed to control pollution by removing sulfur gasses from smoke. Because gypsum is made partially of sulfur, the controlled chemical process that removes this element from the air---a process called flue gas desulfurization or FGD---typically creates gypsum as a byproduct. This gypsum is often then purified and sold to farmers as soil amendment or to building materials manufacturers as a raw material for wallboard. While FGD is not the only process by which gypsum is synthesized, it is a common source of agricultural gypsum.
Recycled Gypsum
While natural deposits and pollution control technology are major sources of gypsum, another type called "recycled gypsum" is developed from pre-existing uses of the mineral such as wallboard. Because of its light weight and ease of installation, gypsum is often used as the interior walls in residential and commercial construction. Often, when this drywall is removed and disposed during constructions, renovations or demolitions, it is sent to landfills. But some efforts have been made to reclaim and recycle these building materials as agricultural products---especially those left over from construction that have not been contaminated with paint or wall covering. Because drywall gypsum is synthesized through the same process as agricultural gypsum, it can easily be substituted as a soil amendment once processed. Using recycled gypsum is sometimes more environmentally sound, as it prevents drywall from accumulating in landfills by putting it to productive use in farming.
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