[Distribution of sulfur-containing compounds in the gasoline range petroleum products]

A capillary gas chromatography coupled with sulfur chemiluminescence detection (GC-SCD) method has been developed for detailed analysis and group-type characterization of sulfur compounds in gasoline range petroleum products. Chemical treatment of the samples was carried out using selective reactions for group-type classification of compounds. A total of 107 sulfur compounds were tentatively classified and identified based on standard substances and retention rule. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of retention times were no more than 0.25%. The quantitative analysis on major sulfur compounds and total sulfur was carried out based on the linear response of sulfur chemiluminescence detector and the internal standard method. The recoveries were in the range of 96% - 115%. For the sulfur-containing compounds whose concentration exceeded 7 mg/kg, the RSDs of the determination were less than 8.9%. Various types of gasoline were analyzed and their sulfur distributions were investigated using the developed method. The results show that the method can be used to separate, identify and quantitate sulfur-containing compounds.