Tetraethylammonium hydrogen sulfate is an ion-pair chromatography (IPC) reagent suitable for anionic separation sorted by carbon chain length. Tetraethylammonium hydrogen sulfate may be used as an ion pair reagent for the analysis of sulfonated aliphatic and aromatic surfactants in sewage sludge by ion-pair/supercritical fluid extraction and derivatization gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Tetraethylammonium hydrogen sulfate is an ion-pair chromatography (IPC) reagent suitable for anionic separation sorted by carbon chain length. Tetraethylammonium hydrogen sulfate may be used as an ion pair reagent for the analysis of sulfonated aliphatic and aromatic surfactants in sewage sludge by ion-pair/supercritical fluid extraction and derivatization gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.