New ISO Test Method (ISO13032) to Determine Low Concentration of Sulphur in Automotive Fuels

The reduction in sulphur concentration in automotive fuels has a number of environmental benefits including the reduction in car exhaust sulphur dioxide levels leading to less pollution and cleaner air quality.

Automotive fuels follow stringent regulations and many countries already produce, or are scheduled to produce, ultra-low sulphur (< 10 or 15 mg.kg-1 sulphur) automotive fuels. The recently introduced ISO13032 (issued April 2012) covers a range of automotive fuels including standard diesel and those containing up to 10% fatty acid methylester (FAME). It also includes automotive gasoline containing up to 3.7% oxygen, and gasoline blended with ethanol up to 10%, measured using the analytical technique of high performance Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence.

Quality control laboratories in refineries and testing houses have long used Energy-Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometers, e.g. Oxford Instruments (UK) Lab-X and X-Supreme to analyse fuels. The excellent performance, versatility, ease of use, speed, and cost-effectiveness of this technique make the EDXRF spectrometer the analytical tool of choice for fuel analysis, from the lower detection limits to high concentration levels.

Adding to its successful range of benchtop EDXRF spectrometers for fuel analysis, Oxford Instruments offers a high performance, field proven EDXRF spectrometer that successfully performs all sulphur analyses required in the petroleum industry, the X-Supreme8000. The X-Supreme is the perfect analyser for rapid sulphur determination, from parts per million (ppm) to high percent levels, in all fuel types and complies with ASTM D4294, ISO20847, ISO8754, and ISO13032.