Near-continuous measurement of hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide by an automatic gas chromatograph

Abstract

An automatic gas chromatograph with a flame photometric detector that samples and analyzes hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide at 30-s intervals is described. Temperature programming was used to elute trace amounts of carbon disulfide present in each injection from a Supelpak-S column in a single peak at the end of 15-min runs. The system was used to study the high-temperature fuel-rich sulfur capture reactions of hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide with injected calcium oxide sorbent, necessitating the nearly continuous measurement of these gaseous sulfur species. The hydrogen sulfide concentration ranged from 300 ppm to 3000 ppm and the carbonyl sulfide from 30 ppm to 300 ppm. The system was also used to monitor sulfur dioxide levels under fuel lean conditions, and the results compared very closely with sulfur dioxide measurements made simultaneously with continuous UV sulfur dioxide instrumentation.