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Total Sulfur Concentration in Geological Reference Materials by Elemental Infrared Analyser
Author(s) -
Bédard L. Paul,
Savard Dany,
Barnes SarahJane
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geostandards and geoanalytical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.037
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1751-908X
pISSN - 1639-4488
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-908x.2008.00881.x
Subject(s) - sulfur , certified reference materials , analyser , chemistry , calibration , mineralogy , crucible (geodemography) , environmental chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , metallurgy , materials science , detection limit , chromatography , mathematics , statistics , computational chemistry
Total sulfur is an analyte for which there are few determinations published, despite the fact that it is a very important element (e.g., a major element in most ores, an important gas constituent in global warming, an active participant in acid drainage). Most geological reference materials have very poor quality sulfur results, that is with relative standard deviations (RSD) in the range of 30–50%, even for concentrations over 100 μg g −1 S, which compromises their use as calibrators. In order to provide modern results with low RSD, sulfur was determined in twenty‐nine geological reference materials with a state‐of‐the‐art elemental S/C analyser using metal chips (certified reference materials with a traceability link) and analytical grade sulfur for high concentration samples. Analytical parameters (sample mass, crucible degassing, calibration strategy, etc.) were optimised by testing. Our results agreed with reference material values provided by issuing bodies. Results for CCRMP SY‐2 (129 ± 13 μg g −1 S), which has been proposed as a sulfur reference material, were in agreement with the proposed modern value of 122 ± 3.7 μg g −1 S.