A new procedure, based on combustion to sulphate and ion chromatography for the analysis of elemental sulphur in sediments

A procedure exploiting the bomb preparation method for the analysis of tota l sulphur in organic materials has been developed for the determination of zero-valent sulphur (S degrees) in sediments. Sediment samples were dried o ver magnesium oxide and sonicated in the presence of toluene to extract S d egrees. Toluene solutions were directly oxidized by combustion in a bomb co ntaining sodium carbonate-bicarbonate buffer which trapped sulphur species generated from S degrees as sulphate ions. These were in turn analysed by s uppressed onion chromatography with ion-conductivity detection. The method was used to determine the distribution of S degrees in salt-marsh sediment cores.