Mercaptan testing can be automated

The sulphur content of fossil fuels has been a problem for decades. Sulphur is present in some oil and gas in the form of mercaptans, acidic organic compounds, which are corrosive, toxic and foul-smelling.

Testing for them is an awkward and time-consuming business. Russian researchers have now developed a small, hand-held device to perform this test simply, quickly and accurately.

Mercaptan testing is performed manually, says Andrey Bulatov, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Petro-chemical Standard Samples in St Petersburg. ‘In all cases, the process is labour-intensive and frequently not too precise,’ he says. The new device is automatic, and can even be installed as an on-line sensor, he claims.

The device is based on a chromatography-membrane cell. The sample enters the cell, and is contacted with a reagent, whereupon the mercaptan forms a brightly-coloured compound. ‘The content of this is easy to determine,’ the researchers say. ‘It is a trivial analytical task, and can be done automatically.’

Each test requires around 5ml of gasoline and takes around four minutes.

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