Sulfur compounds are present naturally in the crude oil and removal of sulfur compounds is important to improve the performance of transportation fuels. Literature is full of techniques for the removal of sulfur compounds from fuels that includes hydrodesulphurization (HDS), oxidative desulfurization, absorption and solvent assisted desulfurization. However, none of these methods is able to remove sulfur compounds completely. In this work, for the first time, simultaneous extraction derivatization of elemental sulfur was performed using porous hollow fiber membrane. A thick hollow fiber membrane filled with triphenylphosphine (dissolved N-methylpyrrolidone) is used as solvent bar. The solvent bar is tumbled freely in the crude oil sample; the elemental sulfur was extracted and derivatized. Finally, the derivatized sulfur was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Various experimental conditions of solvent bar microextraction (SBME) were optimized to achieve higher extraction. The linear range was established between 1 and 50 μg/mL with squared regression coefficient was found to be 0.9959. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) was below 10%. Relative recoveries were calculated for SBME in crude oil samples and were in the range between 98.2 and 101.2%.

Porous membrane assisted-solvent bar microextraction for elemental sulfur in crude oil

249th National Meeting (2015)

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