The Shimadzu Analysers provide information on the bulk concentration of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC, defined as organic carbon that passes through a 0.7 µm filter) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN). Based on the “high-temperature combustion method” (720°C), organic carbon is oxidized completely to CO2, which is susequently measured with an Infra-Red Detector. Nitrogen in organic molecules and inorganic forms of nitrogen (TDN) are equally oxidized, and detected as NO2 via chemoluminescence.

Analyses are routinely performed with water from various locations, i.e. open ocean, north sea, black sea, lakes, rivers, swamps, hydrothermal vents, etc. Also analysis of samples with specific requirements is possible, e.g. measuring the DOC/TDN content of hailstones in extremely low volumes (100 µL).
 

List of people involved:

Ina Ulber
Matthias Friebe

Selected publications:

Sugimura and Suzuki (1988): A high-temperature catalytic oxidation method for the determination of non-volatile dissolved organic carbon in seawater by direct injection of a liquid sample. Marine Chemistry 24: 105-131

Aron Stubbins and Thorsten Dittmar (2012) Low volume quantification of dissolved organic carbon and dissolved nitrogen. Limnol. Oceanogr.: Methods 10, 2012, 347–352