ASTM Methods for Sulphur Analysis in Petrochemicals using a Pulsed Flame Photometric Detector (PFPD)

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards. The ASTM is divided into 129 technical committees devoted to specific areas of interest. Several ASTM committees (e.g. D02, D03, and D16) develop standards related to measuring the physical and chemical properties of petrochemical products, including measurement of their sulphur content using gas chromatography (GC) with a sulphur selective detector. Since the analysis of trace levels of sulphur in petrochemical matrices requires both sensitivity and selectivity, the Pulsed Flame Photometric Detector (PFPD) is well suited for some of these analytical standards. This survey presents an overview of selected ASTM methods for detection and quantitation of sulphur in a variety of petrochemical matrices, and the suitability of the PFPD for those methods. Representative chromatograms for several of the applications are shown using the PFPD.