Journal
CHEMOSPHERE
Volume 68, Issue 3, Pages 409-413Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.01.021
Keywords
soil; organic carbon; spectrophotometry; dichromate; experimental designs
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The study of soil degradation processes as well as the monitoring of environmental quality often yields large sample batches in which organic carbon is the key property to be determined. A description is given for a rapid method to analyse organic carbon by wet oxidation; the reaction is carried out with 3 ml K2Cr2O7 and 6 ml H2SO4 in small vials, and Cr3+ resulting from organic C oxidation is determined by spectrophotometry. No special equipment is needed and handling is reduced to a minimum, enabling over 100 samples per day to be analysed. There is one important detail in the operation protocol: the vials are placed inside an insulator block during oxidation. Heat insulation retards the cooling of vials, which results in a high organic C recovery (over 0.90). The improved method is feasible, simple, and easy to perform. Reproducibility was lower than 10% and recoveries from certified reference materials were about 90%. The simplified method is recommended for widespread organic C content sampling. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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