Comparison of Sampling & Analytical Techniques for Hydrogen Sulfide

Reduced sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide are prevalent at industrial facilities where anaerobic degradation of organic material is taking place; these compounds are a main cause of nuisance odors due to their extremely low odor detection thresholds.Sampling and analysis of hydrogen sulfide in air is a challenge due to its reactive nature and low concentration (pptV – ppmV). Traditional techniques of measuring hydrogen sulfide include sample collection in Tedlar bags and/or specially treated canisters and subsequent laboratory analysis by gas chromatography with sulfur chemiluminescence detection, pulsed flame photometric detection, or other specialized detection technique.This study compares hydrogen sulfide results obtained by traditional Tedlar bag sampling techniques to results obtained by radiello® passive/diffusive samplers and the Jerome® 631X gold film sensor direct reading instrument. These sampling techniques were challenged in the laboratory under several conditions. Trends, biases, and sampling and analytical pros and cons of the various methods are noted and discussed.