The inorganic sulfur compounds that are used as pulping agents in the production of pulp and paper from wood are converted into a variety of sulfur species during processing. How sulfur is allocated to different streams and products in a pulp mill is relevant for efficient mill operation and to avoid harmful emissions. Pulping liquors are a highly challenging and potentially destructive sample matrix. We describe a thin-layer chromatographic method for the direct quantification of elemental sulfur in pulping liquors. The liquors are spotted (not sprayed!) directly onto the plate without prior purification, extraction, or workup. Sulfur is then eluted with cyclo-hexane and detected by densitometry at 285 nm or fluorescence quenching close to the solvent front. The method was validated for a calibrated range from 60 to 2000 ng sulfur on plate. The limit of detection was determined at 20 ng; measurement uncertainty was about 20%. With this method, 27–54 mg/L elemental sulfur were found in Kraft pulping liquors, which corresponds to 0.24–0.48% of the total sulfur in these samples.

在用木材生产纸浆和纸张时用作制浆剂的无机硫化合物在加工过程中会转化为各种硫物质。如何将硫分配到纸浆厂中的不同流和产品中，对于工厂的高效运营和避免有害排放至关重要。制浆液是一种极具挑战性且具有潜在破坏性的样品基质。我们描述了一种直接定量制浆液中元素硫的薄层色谱方法。将液体直接点样（不是喷雾！）到板上，无需事先纯化、萃取或后处理。然后用环己烷洗脱硫，并通过 285 nm 光密度测定或靠近溶剂前沿的荧光猝灭进行检测。该方法已针对板上 60 至 2000 ng 硫的校准范围进行了验证。检测限确定为20 ng；测量不确定度约为20%。通过该方法，在牛皮纸制浆液中发现了 27–54 mg/L 的元素硫，相当于这些样品中总硫的 0.24–0.48%。