Simultaneous determination of nanomole amounts of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide by flow injection analysis with on-line preconcentration by means of capillary denuder tubes

A simple and rapid method for trace determination of SO2 and H2S in gaseous samples by using a flow injection system with on line preconcentration on capillary denuder is described. The gaseous samples are led through a 0.4 M sulphamic acid solution, retaining nitrogen dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen chloride. The sulphur dioxide is collected from the carrier gas stream (250 cm3 min-1) as sulphuric acid in a capillary denuder tube coated with a thin layer of 0.01-0.03 M hydrogen peroxide solution of 0.05 mM sulphuric acid; hydrogen sulphide passes into a second tube coated with 0.075 mM sodium sulphide solution of 0.1 M aqueous sodium hydroxide. The films containing the sulphuric acid and the sodium sulphide, respectively, are eluted with the corresponding circulating absorbent streams and pass through the detectors. Sulphuric acid is detected by conductimetry and sulphide is determined spectrophotometrically at 230 nm. If nanoequivalent amounts of H2S are present in the sample containing a large concentration of SO2 (SO2/H2S concentration ratio > 20), the sulphur dioxide is filtered out of the sample gas stream by solid sodium hydrogen carbonate. A limit of detection of 3.5 micrograms m-3 is obtained.     

A new indirect spectrophotometric procedure for determination of sulphur dioxide

An operationally inexpensive and sensitive spectrophotometric procedure for sulphur dioxide is proposed. The reagent 5,5-dimethyl-1,2,3-cyclohexanetrione-1,2-dioxime-3-thiosemicarbaz one is used to determine trace amounts of sulphur dioxide indirectly by means of the reduction of Fe(III) to Fe(II). The method can determine down to 0.032 microg/ml of sulphur dioxide in the final solution and recoveries are better than 98%. The method can be applied to the determination of atmospheric SO(2) provided that interfering gases such as nitrogen dioxide and hydrogen sulphide are eliminated.     

SOME INVESTIGATIONS ON POLY(SULPHUR OXIDE) AND ITS REACTION WITH SILICON TETRACHLORIDE

Abstract

Poly(sulphur oxide) has been prepared by the low temperature thermal decomposition of the lower oxides of sulphur. This yellow, elastic solid resists water hydrolysis. It is unstable at room temperature when stored under vacuum and decomposes slowly to a powdery yellow white cyclic(sulphur oxide) and sulphur dioxide. In the presence of silicon tetrachloride, the thermal decomposition gives rise to an adduct of the lower oxide of sulphur along with the poly(sulphur oxide). The adduct hydrolyses to silica, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulphide and hydrogen sulphite. Based on the analysis of the hydrolysed products and the IR data, the adduct is assigned a formula of SiCl₄·2(SO), in which the silicon is hexacoordinated.     

Comparison of various detection limit estimates for volatile sulphur compounds by gas chromatography with pulsed flame photometric detection

This paper addresses the variations that presently exist regarding the definition, determination, and reporting of detection limits for volatile sulphur compounds by gas chromatography with pulsed flame photometric detection (GC-PFPD). Gas standards containing hydrogen sulphide (H(2)S), carbonyl sulphide (COS), sulphur dioxide (SO(2)), methyl mercaptan (CH(3)SH), dimethyl sulphide (DMS), carbon disulphide (CS(2)), and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) in concentrations varying from 0.36ppb (v/v) up to 1.5ppm (v/v) in nitrogen were prepared with permeation tubes and introduced in the gas chromatograph using a 0.25-ml gas sampling loop. After measuring the PFPD response versus concentration, the method detection limit (MDL), the Hubaux-Vos detection limit (x(D)), the absolute instrument sensitivity (AIS), and the sulphur detectivity (D(s)) were determined for each sulphur compound. The results show that the MDL determined by the US Environmental Protection Agency procedure consistently underestimates the minimum concentrations of volatile sulphur compounds that can be practically distinguished from the background noise with the PFPD. The Hubaux-Vos detection limits and the AIS values are several times higher than the MDL, and provide more conservative estimates of the lowest concentrations that can be reliably detected. Sulphur detectivities are well correlated with AIS values but only poorly correlated with MDL values. The AIS is recommended as a reliable and cost-effective measure of detection limit for volatile sulphur compounds by GC-PFPD, since the AIS is easier and faster to determine than the MDL and the Hubaux-Vos detection limit. In addition, this study confirmed that the PFPD response is nearly quadratic with respect to concentration for all volatile sulphur compounds.     

Automated determination of sulphite and sulphur dioxide by cool flame molecular emission spectrometry after reduction to hydrogen sulphide with sodium tetrahydroborate III

An automated method for the determination of sulphite and sulphur dioxide by cool flame molecular emission spectrometry is described. The method is based on the reduction of both compounds to hydrogen sulphide with sodium tetrahydroborate III. The sample which is mixed with NaBH(4) is acidified with 6M hydrochloric acid and carried by a continuous-flow stream into a gas-liquid separator where the evolved hydrogen sulphide is swept by nitrogen into a cool, hydrogen-nitrogen-entrained air flame. The intensity of the blue diatomic S(2) emission generated is measured at 384 nm. The proposed method has a detection limit for sulphite of 0.029 mug/ml and relative standard deviations of 1.2 and 1.5% for 1 and 5 mug/ml respectively. The calibration graph is linear up to 24 mug/ml sulphite and samples can be analysed at a rate of about 40/hr. The method has been applied to the determination of SO(2) in air and sulphite in wines.     

Analytical applications of condensed phosphoric acid-IV Iodometric determination of sulphur in sulphate and sulphide ores and minerals and other compounds after reduction with sodium hypophosphite and tin metal in condensed phosphoric acid

Sulphate in sulphate ores, e.g., alunite, anglesite, barytes, chalcanthite, gypsum, manganese sulphate ore, is reduced to hydrogen sulphide by the hypophosphite-tin metal-CPA method, if a slight modification is made. Sulphide ores, e.g., galena, sphalerite, are quantitatively decomposed with CPA alone to give hydrogen sulphide. Suitable reducing agents must be used for the quantitative recovery of hydrogen sulphide from pyrite, nickel sulphide, cobalt sulphide and cadmium sulphide, or elemental sulphur is liberated. Iodide must be used in the decomposition of chalcopyrite; the copper sulphide is too stable to be decomposed by CPA alone. Molybdenite is not decomposed in CPA even if reducing agents are added. The pretreatment methods for the determination of sulphur in sulphur oxyacids and elemental sulphur have also been investigated.     

Differential pulse polarographic study of the degradation of cephalexin: Determination of Hydrogen Sulphide and other Degradation Products

Differential pulse polarography (d.p.p.) is used to study the degradation of cephalexin. Hydrogen sulphide, evolved during the degradation of cephalexin solutions, was removed continuously in a stream of nitrogen and determined periodically. Other electroactive degradation products were observed by d.p.p. of the degraded sample solutions. The degradation mechanism is highly dependent on pH, the initial concentration of cephalexin, temperature, the particular buffer used, and the presence of dissolved oxygen. The formation and degradation of the diketopiperazine derivative formed by intramolecular aminolysis, particularly at neutral pH, can be followed by means of its polarographic peak at -0.9 V (pH 7.4). Approximately half the total sulphur originally present in cephalexin is liberated as hydrogen sulphide at pH 7.4 at 37°C. Increasing the degradation temperature to 80°C and sweeping out the hydrogen sulphide with nitrogen increases the yield of a major product which gives a peak at -1.26 V. At pH 8.5 (80°C. 100 μg cephalexin ml^-1) the percentage of the sulphur evolved as hydrogen sulphide increases with time, and a peak appears at -0.96 V (probably 2-hydroxy-3-phenyl-6-methylpyrazine) which increases as the peak at -1.26 V becomes smaller. Other products formed under different conditions (concentration, pH, temperature) are reported. At pH 3 (80°C) only 8% conversion via intramolecular aminolysis and 5% evolution of total sulphur is indicated after four hours.     

Estimation of metals as sulphides: Atmospheric oxidation of alkali sulphides

The atmospheric oxidation of sodium and ammonium sulphide reagents has been studied. It has been shown that if the reagents are prepared by passing hydrogen sulphide from 2–4 minutes in alkali hydroxide solutions at a temperature below 5° C they remain unoxidized for a considerable time, and the sulphide precipitates produced by them in gravimetric analysis are therefore free from sulphur.     

A gravimetric procedure for the determination of wet precipitated sulphur, dissolved sulphur, soluble sulphides and hydrogen sulphide

Elemental sulphur (in wet precipitated form or dissolved in organic solvents) and hydrogen sulphide have been determined gravimetrically at room temperature by conversion into copper sulphide by elemental copper in presence of an organic solvent such as benzene or acetonitrile. Any solvent in which sulphur is soluble can be used. The black copper sulphide formed can be weighed or determined iodometrically. Analysis indicates the black compound to be Cu(1.8)S. This room temperature method is a versatile one-step procedure sensitive to microgram or macro amounts of sulphur. It has been used for determining the solubility of sulphur in tetrahydrofuran and dioxan. The apparent heat of solution indicates that sulphur dissolves in these solvents without any marked solute-solvent interactions.     

A study of the effect of some pollutant gases on cathodes used in membrane-covered amperometric oxygen detectors

The effects of various gaseous pollutants on the electrochemical activity of materials used as cathodes for membrane-covered amperometric oxygen detectors are described. It is shown that gold and platinum cathodes are not unduly affected by concentrations of sulphur dioxide and chlorine many times greater than those likely to be encountered in test solutions, and that a gold cathode is also unaffected by hydrogen sulphide. A platinum cathode is rapidly and significantly poisoned on contact with hydrogen sulphide; an analysis of the fall in the rate of oxygen reduction as a function of time indicates that the poisoning occurs by the blocking of surface sites by sulphide. The effect of hydrogen sulphide on silver, nickel and nickel sulphide electrodes is also reported. Of these materials, only nickel sulphide is an effective electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in the presence of sulphide.     

Determination of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide in a mixture

A method has been proposed for the determination of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide in a mixture. The method is based upon the quantitative oxidation of sulphide and sulphite with an excess of radiochloramine-T in alkaline medium /0.1N NaOH/. The released chloride activity is proportional to the total amount of sulphide and sulphite present. Addition of 1% CdSO₄ solution to the mixture of sulphide and sulphite precipitates sulphide, and sulphite in the filtrate determined by the reagent. From the difference in activities, the amount of sulphide can be calculated. This method can be employed for the determination of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide in air samples.     

Development of a quantification method for the analysis of malodorous sulphur compounds in gaseous industrial effluents by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-pulsed flame photometric detection

A quantification method for malodorous sulphur compounds in gaseous industrial effluents using solid-phase microextraction sampling followed by gas chromatography-pulsed flame photometric detection has been developed. A comparative study showed that polydimethylsiloxane-Carboxen fibre led to sufficient sensitivity to achieve the microg m(-3) human perception levels of the five analytes studied (hydrogen sulphide, methanethiol, ethanethiol, dimethyl sulphide, dimethyl disulphide). However, this coating is known to suffer from competitive adsorption, which may lead to inaccurate quantification. Therefore, external calibration can only be used under a limited range of concentrations, which were determined from Fick's diffusion law. This approach was tested on a real gaseous sample and compared with the standard addition method. Good correlations were found for ethanethiol, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide. However, for more volatile sulphur compounds (i.e., hydrogen sulphide and methanethiol), the easy-to-use external calibration could not be applied and standard additions had to be performed for accurate quantification.     

Trace determination of sulphide and sulphur dioxide by vapor molecular absorption spectrometry using magnesium and tellurium hollow cathode lamps

A new method has been developed in this paper for determining sulphide and sulphur dioxide simultaneously. Two emission lines, 202.6 nm and 214.3 nm which are emitted from hollow cathode lamps (HCL) of magnesium and tellurium, respectively, were used as radiation sources for measurement of absorbances of H(2)S at 202.6 nm and SO(2) at 214.3 nm or 202.6 nm. The detection limit for S(2-) was shown to be 0.01 mug/ml and the detection limits for SO(2) with 202.6 nm and 214.3 nm lines were 0.05 and 0.2 mug/ml, respectively. The method has been employed to satisfactorily analyse practical samples.     

Investigations on the preparation,oxidation and reduction reactions of thiophosphoryl fluoride

Pure thiophosphoryl fluoride has been prepared by the fluorination of thiophosphoryl chloride by sodium fluoride in acetonitrile medium. Oxidation of this phosphoryl fluoride by acidified chloramine-T ruptures the phosphorus-sulphur bond and oxidises the sulphur present to the hexavalent state. Anhydrous hydrogen iodide reduces the sulphur to hydrogen sulphide and phosphorus to the trivalent state.     

Zur colorimetrischen Bestimmung flüchtiger Schwefelverbindungen in Lebensmitteln

The quantitative determination of volatile mercaptans and hydrogen sulphide with bis-(p-nitrophenyl)-disulphide is described. The influence of various other volatile sulphur compounds, which may be found in food, and of ethanol has been examined. It is possible to determine down to 0.1 mMol/kg of mercaptans and hydrogen sulphide in food with a standard deviation of 8.4%. A few examples are given.     

Coulometric argentometric determination of microamounts of sulphur in iron and steel after reduction to hydrogen sulphide with iron(II) in strong phosphoric acid medium

A coulometric method was developed for the determination of microamounts of sulphur in iron and steel. Hydrogen sulphide is quantitatively evolved by reduction with iron(II) in strong phosphoric acid medium and is titrated with electrolytically generated silver ion from a silver anode. Microamounts of sulphide (2.96–224.3 μg) in sodium sulphide standard solutions could be determined with an error of only a few percent. Sulphur in a potassium sulphate standard solution is quantitatively reduced to hydrogen sulphide and could be separated from the solution by heating and determined accurately. Trace amounts of sulphur (7–100 μg g^?1) in iron and steels could be determined with a standard deviation of 0.7–2.1 μg g^?1.     

Measurement of reduced sulphur compounds contained in aqueous matrices by direct injection into a gas chromatograph with a flame photometric detector

An analytical method was developed to measure the concentration of hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide contained in aqueous matrices (distilled water, tap water, kraft mill condensates and membrane bioreactor mixed liquor) by direct injection of aqueous samples into a gas chromatograph with a flame photometric detector. The analytical method requires a small sample volume (2 ml), sample preparation and analysis can be completed within 20 min and no complex sampling apparatus is needed. Consistent results and good recoveries were observed in all matrices investigated over the range of concentrations examined. The relationship between the normalized peak area obtained from GC–flame photometric detection and the concentration of the reduced sulphur compounds (RSCs) examined did not follow the theoretical power law exponent of two. The power law exponent appeared to decrease with the organic fraction associated with each RSC. The observed power law exponents for hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide were 1.92, 1.90, 1.66 and 1.72, respectively.     

Analytical applications of condensed phosphoric acid-III Iodometric determination of sulphur after reduction of sulphate with sodium hypophosphite and either tin metal or potassium iodide in condensed phosphoric acid

Novel methods for the reduction of sulphate to hydrogen sulphide with hypophosphite-tin metal or hypophosphite-iodide in condensed phosphoric acid (CPA) are proposed. The reduction of sulphate with hypophosphite alone does not proceed quantitatively. Sulphate, however, is quantitatively decomposed with hypophosphite when tin metal or potassium iodide is used together with it. The determination of sulphur by the hypophosphite-tin metal-CPA and tin(II)-CPA methods is interfered with by copper on account of the stabilization of copper(I) sulphide, but this interference can be eliminated by adding iodide, e.g. potassium and lead salts. Alum and barytes are quantitatively decomposed within 15 min at 140 and 280 degrees , respectively. The hydrogen sulphide evolved is absorbed in zinc acetate solution at pH 4.5 and then determined by iodometry.     

The determination of microgram amounts of sulphur in nitrate or chloride solutions

It is shown that μg quantities of sulphate can be “collected” with barium chromate when the latter is precipitated from solutions at a pH of about 1. The sulphate in this precipitate can be converted to hydrogen sulphide when the precipitate is treated at red heat with a mixture of hydrogen and hydrogen chloride vapour. The above procedure has been made the basis of a method for determining traces of sulphur, down to about 0.2 p.p.m. on a 10 g sample, when the hydrogen sulphide is determined absorptiometrically as Lauth's violet.     

Fate of CS2 in viscose process: a chemistry perspective

Cellulose dissolution in the viscose process has been facilitated through derivatization by carbon disulphide (CS₂) at xanthation stage by converting alkali cellulose (AC) to cellulose xanthate (CX). CX formation has been always accompanied with sulphur based byproducts formation as dictated by the mechanism published in earlier study (Gondhalekar et al. (Cellulose 26 3 1595–1604, 2019)). The sulphur byproducts formed during viscose synthesis are sodium sulphide (Na₂S), sodium trithiocarbonate (Na₂CS₃: TTC) and other minor sulphur compounds. These byproducts continue to form during ripening process as dictated by time and temperature coupled with concentration of free caustic and CS₂ present in the system. These byproducts get converted into sodium sulphate (Na₂SO₄), hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), CS₂ and other sulphurous compounds during spinning. Overall, uncontrolled ripening without parametric optimization adversely impacts raw material (RM) consumption and creates sustainability challenges. Overall optimization based on viscose process fundamental insights presented in this study will effectively help in achieving operational excellence by reducing rate of undesired reactions to improve RM specific consumption and will compliment overall sustainability efforts in viscose industry.