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Improved method for the determination of nonpurgeable suspended organic carbon in natural water by silver filter filtration, wet chemical oxidation, and infrared spectrometry
Author(s) -
Burkhardt Mark R.,
Brenton Ronald W.,
Kammer James A.,
Jha Virenda K.,
O'MaraLopez Peggy G.,
Woodworth Mark T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/1998wr900052
Subject(s) - filtration (mathematics) , wet oxidation , total organic carbon , phosphoric acid , carbon fibers , chemistry , membrane , analytical chemistry (journal) , detection limit , chromatography , materials science , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics , composite number , composite material , catalysis
Precision and accuracy are reported for the first time for the analysis of nonpurgeable suspended organic carbon by silver membrane filtration followed by wet chemical oxidation. A water sample is pressure filtered through a 0.45‐μm‐pore‐size, 47‐mm‐diameter silver membrane filter. The silver membrane filter then is cut into ribbons and placed in a flame‐sealable glass ampule. The organic material trapped on the membrane filter strips is acidified, purged with oxygen to remove inorganic carbonates and volatile organic compounds, and oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) using phosphoric acid and potassium persulfate in the sealed glass ampule. The resulting CO 2 is measured by a nondispersive infrared CO 2 detector. The amount of CO 2 is proportional to the concentration of chemically oxidizable nonpurgeable organic carbon in the environmental water sample. The quantitation and method detection limit for routine analysis is 0.2 mg/L. The average percent recovery in five representative matrices was 97 ± 11%. The errors associated with sampling and sample preparation of nonpurgeable suspended organic carbon are also described.