Analysis of Organic and Inorganic Sulfur Constituents in Sediments, Soils and Water

Abstract

A suite of analytical methods for determining the amount of organic sulfur (carbon-bonded sulfur and ester sulfate) and inorganic sulfur (sulfate and sulfide) is described. Organic sulfur fractions, which have often been ignored, are major constituents of oxic substrates and have a major role in sulfur dynamics. Methods of sample preparation and a modification of the Johnson-Nishita digestion-distillation apparatus are given. HCl digestion, Zn-HCl reduction, hydriodic acid reduction, sulfate extraction, wet oxidation and dry oxidation are utilized for determining sulfur constituents. With only minor modifications these analyses were adapted for examining ³⁵S transformation rates. Results from these analyses on sewage sludge, lake sediment, soil, and water demonstrate the usefulness of these methods.

Key Words:

• Organic sulfur
• ester sulfate
• radioisotope
• carbon-bonded sulfur
• inorganic sulfur