QUANTITATIVE DETECTION OF SULFUR COMPOUNDS BY FLAME PHOTOMETRY

An improved flame photometry detector to give direct quantitative detection of molecules containing sulfur by: - the total combustion of the mixture to be analyzed so as to transform the sulfur into sulfur oxide (primarily SO2); - the linearization, by an electronic device, of the signal supplied by the electrometer, in series with the photomultiplier of the detector, prior to recording (this results in the proportionality of the recording to the number of sulfurcontaining molecules detected); and preferably the provision of a leakage flow beyond the burner and in front of the detection so as to avoid saturation of the detector. These improvements can be applied to the analysis of a hydrocarbon mixture and of sulfur compounds which have been previously eluted on a chromatographic column.