Total Sulfur Levels in Refined Petroleum Products of Southwestern Nigeria Using UV/VIS Spectrophotometer

Abstract

This study employed turbidimetric method using a UV/VIS spectrophotometer to determine the total sulfur levels of refined petroleum products in Southwestern Nigeria. The sulfur concentrations in the analyzed fuel samples were 0.0019-0.0178 wt% and 0.027-0.169 wt% for gasoline and diesel, respectively. Sulfur levels in the selected samples were below the Nigerian standard for gasoline and diesel while 89.9% of the samples exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard. The turbidimetric method showed better performance than the gravimetric method. The results gave insight into the adverse environmental impact the nonuniform quality of fuels imported could pose to the country.

Desulfurization of Gasoline and Diesel by Fly Ash‐Derived FAU Zeolite

“… Preparation of Reagents and Standard Series This study used a turbidimetric method [3] to determine sulfur content in liquid petroleum fuels. Gasoline (A) and diesel (B) fuel were collected from typical fuel stations and stored at room temperature for analysis and assessment.…”

“…Besides being an air pollutant, sulfur has a blocking effect on many pollution control technologies affecting air emissions control [2]. Inadequate petroleum refining capacities have resulted in the importation of petroleum products around the world with nonuniform quality [3]; despite regulatory limits, petroleum fuels still contain significant levels of sulfur which causes the emission of sulfur oxides (SO x ) that contribute to decreased air quality impacting adversely the environment and the human health [4, 5]. Every year, millions of metric tons of air pollutants are emitted worldwide into the atmosphere, and a significant part of these emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and natural gas [1] .…”

“…As well as being environmentally detrimental, this substance is undesirable to the engine itself as it damages engine parts such as piston rings and cylinder [6,7]. While countries' regulations for emissions reduction require extraordinary efforts to continue reducing sulfur levels in transportation fuels, particularly jet fuel, gasoline, and diesel [4], inadequate local petroleum refining capacities around the world have often resulted in the commercialization of petroleum products with nonuniform quality [3,7]. Countries are rigorously continuing to reduce sulfur levels in automobiles, aviation, marine vessels, off-road vehicles, and other power-generating utilities limiting sulfur content in diesel and gasoline fuels to below 30 and 15 ppm, respectively [3,[8][9][10].…”

“…While countries' regulations for emissions reduction require extraordinary efforts to continue reducing sulfur levels in transportation fuels, particularly jet fuel, gasoline, and diesel [4], inadequate local petroleum refining capacities around the world have often resulted in the commercialization of petroleum products with nonuniform quality [3,7]. Countries are rigorously continuing to reduce sulfur levels in automobiles, aviation, marine vessels, off-road vehicles, and other power-generating utilities limiting sulfur content in diesel and gasoline fuels to below 30 and 15 ppm, respectively [3,[8][9][10]. These restrictions may intensify the operating costs of the current hydrodesulfurization (HD) technology, which uses a Co-Mo/Al 2 O 3 or Ni-Mo/Al 2 O 3 catalyst at high temperatures and pressure, but is less effective in producing ultra-sulfur-free fuels [11,12].…”

Drivers of anthropogenic air emissions in Nigeria - A review

“…In addition, although, the country has huge deposit of crude oil with very low sulfur contents ( Faruq et al., 2012 ; Okedere et al., 2017a ); the local refineries do not function as expected; hence, bulk of the premium motor spirit (gasoline) and diesel (automotive gas oil) used in the country are imported. The atmospheric loading of pollutants such as SOx and some heavy metals have been hinged on the consumption of these imported petroleum products ( Jimoda et al., 2014 ; Olatunji et al., 2015 ; Okedere et al., 2017a ). The sulfur contents in some of the imported fuel were reported to be as high as 1000–3000 ppm as against about 10 ppm in most EU countries ( European Council, 2009 ; George, 2018 ).…”