Advertisement

identification of heavy sulphur compounds in LPG with GC-MS

Discussions about GC-MS, LC-MS, LC-FTIR, and other "coupled" analytical techniques.

3 posts Page 1 of 1
I have to identify sulphur compounds ( C3+, disulfides, trisulfides and...) in C2-C5 LPG( appr 60%olefins) with GC-MS. Has anyone experience on doing this, or can someone help me to find the best way of sample introduction( inlet temperatures, GSV, LSV, COC.....) and column ?
Have been using a CP-SIL 8 ( 25*0.53*5) until now
Thanks in advance!
The problem with LPG is discrimination. The light ends in gas state and the heavy in liquid state. Many use a water bomb pressurized by nitrogen at @ 500PSI. I too would use that system, however, I don't want water to accidentally enter my GC. So now I just press 600 PSI nitrogen pressure on top of the LPG in a 300 cc steel peanut bomb. The pressure liquifies the gases and the sudden rush of nitrogen mixes the sample. The sample is injected with a 0.2ul liquid sampling valve from VICI. The system works pretty good. The valves require changing on a regular basis (about 6 months) due to traces of water and dirt. Yes I do have filters (actually 2, 15 u and 0.2 u) but still gets to the valves. I send them back to VICI and they re-condition for a fee of course.
The sulfur issue is a different beast. Clean sample lines and calibration standards are not cheap. Deactivating everything in the path to the detector is always a challenge. Getting mercaptan in and out without converting to sulfide will be a challenge.
I'd like to know how things turn out. Drop a note once in awhile to let me know how you're progressing.

thanks Les. It's good to hear the LSV works fine...had some doubts about that. I also pressurize my sample bombs with nitrogen up to appr. 500PSI when I use my VICI micro-flo syringe (for manual injection of liquid LPG), so I'am familiar with that.

It will take some time but I will let you know if we're making some progress..
3 posts Page 1 of 1

Who is online

In total there are 32 users online :: 1 registered, 0 hidden and 31 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 4374 on Fri Oct 03, 2025 12:41 am

Users browsing this forum: Semrush [Bot] and 31 guests

Latest Blog Posts from Separation Science

Separation Science offers free learning from the experts covering methods, applications, webinars, eSeminars, videos, tutorials for users of liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, sample preparation and related analytical techniques.

Subscribe to our eNewsletter with daily, weekly or monthly updates: Food & Beverage, Environmental, (Bio)Pharmaceutical, Bioclinical, Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry.

Liquid Chromatography

Gas Chromatography

Mass Spectrometry