Total Sulfur Content in Diesel–Reliable Analysis using Sulfur Chemiluminescence Detector Nexis SCD-2030

User Benefits

- Sulfur Chemiluminescence Detection (SCD) with Nexis SCD-2030 enables the reliable analysis of total sulfur content in petrochemical samples - Additionally, and in contrast to classical total sulfur approaches, it offers the possibility to detect and quantify individual sulfur compounds, revealing the sulfur pattern of a certain sample

Introduction

Sulfur compound content is critical for petrochemical products, as sulfur species not only are responsible for atmospheric pollutions (SO₂ and SO₃), but also are poisonous for catalysts used in refining. Since this is true for any sulfur containing molecule down to trace-level amounts, the biggest demand for an analytical system is to detect the total sulfur content, meaning the sum of all sulfur species, down to low absolute values – despite the high matrix load of an undiluted petrochemical sample. Classical total sulfur analysis methods involve e. g. oxidative microcoulometry, UV fluorescence, titration or gravimetric methods. However, these techniques only determine the total sulfur content and cannot give information on the sulfur component pattern of a certain sample. To do so, the instrument of choice is sulfur chemiluminescence detection (SCD): It combines not only the selectivity and sensitivity necessary for the analysis of the total sulfur content but also offers the advantage to additionally determine individual sulfur species in a certain sample and quantitate single compound amounts via its equimolar response. Using the example of a diesel sample, an investigation of the total sulfur content in petrochemical samples via gas chromatography (GC) combined with sulfur chemiluminescence detection (SCD) is presented. Two approaches are compared: A high-throughput setup using a short tubing without stationary phase, that gives the total sulfur content as one peak without chromatographic separation, against a more flexible setup with a regular analytical column, additionally allowing for the investigation of single peaks due to the chromatographic separation of the sulfur compounds.

April 5, 2022 GMT