Organic and pyritic sulfur determination in oil shale

Sulfur forms in oil shale are defined according to their reduction rates to H2S in the presence of hydrogen-donor solvents. A linear increase in temperature with time is applied to a reaction system of oil shale and hydrogen-donor solvents. The different temperatures at which H2S is detected corresponds to specific sulfur-functionality reductions and produces a reaction profile, or kinetogram. The kinetograms of 10 standards and 13 different oil shales are given. The method of analysis is simple. Aromatic and aliphatic disulfides, sulfides, thiols, and pyrite can be detected, however we are not yet sure about the detection of thianthrene structures and thiophenic structures. Our present results indicate that this is a promising approach, but improvements in the procedure must be made to optimize the analytical technique.