Analysis of Fractional Distillation Performance of Gas Condensates and Light Crudes Based on Feedstock Sulfur Content

This study evaluates the association between feedstock sulfur content and atmospheric distillation performance for 19 Ukrainian gas condensates and light crude oils processed under comparable industrial conditions in the Ukrainian Industrial Atmospheric Distillation Unit (UIADU). The feedstocks covered a total sulfur range of 7–4467 ppm. Product-specific analyses used 18 feed–light gasoline (LG) pairs, eight feed–kerosene–diesel (KD) pairs, and seven simultaneous LG–KD pairs. LG sulfur was significantly but weakly associated with feed sulfur (R2 = 0.3069, p = 0.0171). At the same time, KD sulfur showed a significantly stronger association with feed sulfur (R2 = 0.685, p = 0.011). The four-point grouped LG-yield model showed a strong descriptive association (R2 = 0.9525, p = 0.024) but was treated as exploratory because it was based on only four aggregated observations, whereas the grouped KD-yield model was not statistically significant despite a high R2 (R2 = 0.9569, p = 0.1331). In all seven complete paired observations, KD sulfur exceeded LG sulfur. The contribution of the study is the comparative, industrial-scale evaluation of sulfur partitioning and fraction-yield behavior across a compositionally heterogeneous feedstock set, rather than rediscovering preferential sulfur enrichment in higher-boiling fractions. The results support total feed sulfur as a preliminary engineering screening indicator, but not as a standalone causal predictor or a substitute for complete feedstock characterization.