Accurate determn. of total organic carbon in water - using purge and trap technique with adsorption conversion to methane and monitoring

摘要

Total organic carbon present in an aqueous sample is determined by a three stage procedure. Firstly all the inorganic carbon is removed. The volatile carbon compds. are then purged out by an N2 stream which is bubbled through the sample. The organic material removed in this way is adsorbed onto a polymeric adsorbent material. It is subsequently desorbed and converted to CH4, the quantity of which is measured. Non-volatile organic material is determined by heating some of aqueous sample in a H2 atmosphere to convert it to CH4. The quantity of CH4 formed then gives a measure of the total carbon. Used for measurement of total carbon in water streams. The technique of purging is known but some materials are not sufficiently volatile to be removed by the purge. The technique described extends the method to give total carbon.