ABSTRACT
The timely information provided by continuous on-line monitoring makes it easy to meet sulfur content limits consistently, especially when various product or feed streams are blended. On-line analysis is imperative as environmental authorities tighten the specifications on sulfur levels in petroleum products. X-ray absorption technique has been used for many years in the laboratory and on-line to measure total sulfur content in liquid petroleum products. The current from the ionization chamber detector is the input to the sulfur converter. The sample is excited by a low-level radiation source that causes the sulfur atoms to emit characteristic fluorescent X-rays. X-ray fluorescence measurement of sulfur in oil is a recognized American Society for Testing and Materials laboratory procedure. Their intensity is measured by a high-resolution proportional counter detector over a time period, and the resultant data are processed by a microprocessor to yield average total sulfur content in the stream.
