Sulfur is one of the most highly regulated elements. When a fuel containing sulfur is oxidized, sulfur dioxide is produced and released into the atmosphere. In addition to its direct health effects as a gaseous pollutant, sulfur dioxide in the air can be transformed into sulfuric acid. Even if the sulfur does not reach the ground in the form of acid rain, sulfur-bearing particles in the upper atmosphere also affect the environment. For these reasons, regulations regarding sulfur content have become widespread. These regulations primarily call for the measurement of the sulfur content of fuels, natural gas and coal.

In addition to mandated regulatory testing, there are other reasons for measuring sulfur. For instance, the presence of sulfur in oil can hamper the proper functioning of catalysts in the refining process or foster corrosion in pipelines. Although sulfur can be measured by many instrumental methods, including GC and X-ray fluorescence, a common method is to use a combustion analyzer to measure the total sulfur content in a sample.

The analytical process is relatively simple. The sample is fully combusted, so that all of the sulfur is converted into sulfur dioxide gas. Various detection methods can then be used to directly measure the sulfur dioxide. Specific methods used include infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet fluorescence, chemiluminescence or electrochemical methods. Total sulfur analysis is frequently combined with other detectors for measuring other elements. Elements commonly measured alongside sulfur include nitrogen, carbon and the halogens.

Concerns about air pollution drive the primary source of demand for these instruments, and applications are concentrated in the oil and gas and coal industries. Other environmental applications involve the testing of soil and water. More general petrochemicals and chemical labs also have applications for sulfur testing, and there are more specialized applications for cement, rubber and even wine.

Combustion sulfur analyzers are marketed by a number of vendors, many of them being well-known names in elemental analysis. Foremost among them is LECO, but many others exist, including Analytik Jena, Elementar, Skalar and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo recently introduced the iPRO 5000 total nitrogen/total sulfur system.

Due to the importance of the oil and gas industry, vendors that cater to that industry, like PAC (Roper), are also important participants in this market. The PAC Multitek instrument provides measurement of nitrogen, sulfur and halides with three complementary detector types. Other vendors of combustion sulfur analyzers include Mitsubishi Chemical Instruments and Yanaco Scientific. Because so many of the instruments provide measurements not only of sulfur but also other elements, market figures for sulfur analyzers overlap with other analysis types. Despite the overlap, the 2011 sulfur analyzer market can be nominally estimated at about $10 million.

Combustion Total Sulfur

Analyzers at a Glance:

Leading Suppliers

• PAC (Roper Industries)

• LECO

• Thermo Fisher Scientific

Largest Markets

• Oil & Gas

• Coal

• Environmental Testing

Instrument Cost

• $25,000–$75,000