TSA-100 a Total Sulfur Analyzer
Applied Analytics’ TSA-100 Process Total Sulfur Analyzer is designed for accuracy, versatility, fast-response, and ruggedness in any range of total sulfur measurement. This innovative instrument has critical advantages over older standards such as the lead acetate tape method, a high-maintenance process with slow measurements, cumbersome adjustments, and toxic consumables. Most significantly, the TSA-100 is engineered for insusceptibility to component cross-interference; the analyzer can provide fully accurate total sulfur measurements even when interfering compounds such as H2S, SO2, and mercaptans are all present in the sample.
The analyzer is based on the standard method for total sulfur (ASTM D 5453 – 06), which involves flowing the hydrocarbon sample in a hot combustion tube in an oxygen-rich environment. The sulfur is oxidized to SO2. The analyzer uses the UV absorption of the single component (SO2) to determine its concentration, and the total sulfur. The TSA-100 provides the ideal SO2-monitoring solution. The TSA-100 also works well in streams containing high-level aromatics, and nitrogen.
The TSA-100 consists of four major subunits: 1) a xenon light source, which sends light through fiber optic cables into the 2) flow cell, in which the unique characteristics of the sample define its interaction with the light; the light then enters a 3) holographic grating, which separates white light into its components such that the 4) diode array detector can measure the intensity of radiation at each wavelength.
A moving parts sulfur-detection system relying on paper tape requires substantial maintenance, frequently incapacitated by sample saturation or tape replacement. The regular response time can be as long as several minutes, depending on the sulfur concentration. Lastly, this method is quite vulnerable to inaccuracies stemming from cross-interference among the sample components.
The advantages of an AAI analyzer over paper tape are economically, environmentally, and technologically significant. The spectrophotometric principles of the system eliminate the need for costly, polluting consumables like lead acetate. The TSA-100 is solid state (no moving parts) and connects to the sample through fiber optic cables, designed with the safety of the equipment and those operating it as the highest priority. While lead acetate tape gives slow, discrete measurements, the TSA-100 provides instantaneous and continuous measurements.
The TSA-100 can measure total sulfur in a variety of petroleum and refinery hydrocarbon gas and liquid streams (e.g. crude oil, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, and natural gas). Concentration range can vary from 0-5 PPM to 0-10,000 PPM, and the instrument features auto-switching between multi-streams. With all its vast improvements over older total sulfur methods, the TSA-100 demonstrates the long-term benefits of incorporating AAI’s flagship technology into your process.