EXTRACTION OF ELEMENTAL SULFUR FROM AN AQUEOUS SUSPENSION FOR ANALYSIS BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A bioreactor is being developed that produces elemental sulfur suspend ed in aqueous bioreactor contents. The concentration of elemental sulf ur must be measured explicitly in order to study the efficiency of the conversion of sulfide to elemental sulfur. Extracting the sample with ethanol gave erroneous results when sulfide was present in solution. The extraction of aqueous elemental sulfur into petroleum ether prior to colorimetric determination was tested. When the aqueous matrix was simply deionized water, the extraction was poor. The development of a method of extraction of the sulfur into chloroform prior to quantifica tion by high-performance liquid chromatography is described. The effic iency of the extraction was found to be greater than 90% in all matrix es tested and linear for aqueous elemental sulfur concentrations up to 200 mg/L.