Abstract: Two solid phase extractions methods with PdCl2-Al2O3 were developed for the separation of sulfur compounds in high sulfur-containing diesel and hydrofined diesel. A comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOF MS) method for the qualitative analysis of sulfur compounds in diesel was established. This method could effectively remove the interference of other components on sulfur compounds identification, and give the accurate data of compound types and carbon number distribution of sulfur compounds in diesels from different processing units and hydrofined diesels. The results showed that nearly 90% of sulfur compounds were concentrated in sulfur-containg component separated, with very little aromatic hydrocarbons. In straight-run high sulfur diesel and catalytic cracking diesel, 8 kinds of 757 and 4 kinds of 179 sulfur compounds were classified and characterized, respectively. In corresponding diesel hydrogenation products, 4 kinds of 98 and 3 kinds of 81 sulfur compounds were identified, respectively. More than 90% of sulfur compounds in hydrofined diesel were dibenzothiophenes with short side chain.

Key words: sulfur compounds, diesel, solid phase extraction, two-dimensional gas chromatography, time-of-flight mass spectrometry