Sulfur determination in coal using molecular absorption in graphite filter vaporizer

The vaporization of sulfur containing samples in graphite vaporizers for atomic absorption spectrometry is accompanied by modification of sulfur by carbon and, respectively, appearance at high temperature of structured molecular absorption in 200–210 nm wavelength range. It has been proposed to employ the spectrum for direct determination of sulfur in coal; soundness of the suggestion is evaluated by analysis of coal slurry using low resolution CCD spectrometer with continuum light source coupled to platform or filter furnace vaporizers. For coal in platform furnace losses of the analyte at low temperature and strong spectral background from the coal matrix hinder the determination. Both negative effects are significantly reduced in filter furnace, in which sample vapor efficiently interacts with carbon when transferred through the heated graphite filter. The method is verified by analysis of coals with sulfur content within 0.13–1.5% (m/m) range. The use of coal certified reference material for sulfur analyte addition to coal slurry permitted determination with random error 5–12%. Absolute and relative detection limits for sulfur in coal are 0.16 μg and 0.02 mass%, respectively.