Oils and fuels: sulfur analysis according to ISO 20884 and ASTM 2622

Turnkey solution for accurate analysis of sulfur in petroleum products

Crude oil contains typically between 0.5 and 5 % sulfur. Environmental considerations require emissions from petroleum products derived from these crude oils to contain limited levels of sulfur. The sulfur content of both intermediary and end-products (fuels, oils, gasolines) needs to be accurately controlled according to test methods such as ASTM 2622 and ISO20884. These employ wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WD XRF) and mathematical matrix corrections procedures. 

XRF is an excellent method for determination of sulfur in petroleum products as it provides cost-effective, precise and accurate data and fast data acquisition. Individual calibrations can be used for months, avoiding time-consuming and costly recalibration. Especially for liquids, the sample preparation is simple and the analysis does not require highly skilled lab personnel.

Expertise program for XRF analysis of Sulfur in petroleum products according to ISO 20884 and ASTM 2622

This Expertise program delivers a complete methodology to establish norm compliance and covers all aspects from sample preparation to quality assurance. Customers can choose to request a quote for either one or both norms to be covered in the program. Customer can opt for the Oil-Trace package, which corrects for variations in the oxygen to hydrocarbon ratio of samples, allowing best accuracy and use of a single calibration for multiple matrices. Oil-Trace is strongly recommended for fuels. The following elements and concentration ranges are covered:

ASTM 2622 (Oils or fuels)
S 0 - 100 ppm
or  
S 0.03 - 1 %
or  
S 1 - 5 %
 
ISO20884 (Diesel fuels)
S 0 - 500 ppm

Included:

  • Suite of calibration standards as required for the norm(s), validation sample, low and high intensity monitoring sample
  • P-1 or P-2 cups and assembly tool and pre-cut Mylar foils, sufficient for calibration and validation
  • Setup of optimized application setup and calibration for accurate analysis of the range of elements in concentration ranges as given in the table above
  • Setup of methodology validation and calibration maintenance procedure
  • Advice on sample preparation best practices and workflow optimization
  • User training and documentation

Optional

  • Statistical Process Control  for setting up QA/QC workflows*
  • Software: Oil-Trace, which corrects for variations in the oxygen to hydrocarbon ratio of samples, allowing best accuracy and use of a single calibration for multiple matrices.

Prerequisites

  • Malvern Panalytical XRF spectrometer: Zetium, Axios or MagiX WD XRF systems, equipped to run liquid samples
  • Oil-Trace  module for  SuperQ , which corrects for variations in the oxygen to hydrocarbon ratio of samples, allowing best accuracy and use of a single calibration for multiple matrices

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* SPC is already included with Zetium systems