A PROCEDURE FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF TOTAL NITROGEN AND TOTAL PHOSPHORUS IN FRESH-WATER SAMPLES USING PERSULFATE MICROWAVE DIGESTION

In the absence of a suitable method for routine analysis of large numbers of natural river water samples for organic nitrogen and phosphorus fractions, a new simultaneous digestion technique was developed, based on a standard persulphate digestion procedure. This allows rapid analysis of river, lake...

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Veröffentlicht in:Water research (Oxford) 1992-10, Vol.26 (10), p.1281-1287
Hauptverfasser: JOHNES, PJ, HEATHWAITE, AL
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:In the absence of a suitable method for routine analysis of large numbers of natural river water samples for organic nitrogen and phosphorus fractions, a new simultaneous digestion technique was developed, based on a standard persulphate digestion procedure. This allows rapid analysis of river, lake and groundwater samples from a range of environments for total nitrogen and phosphorus. The method was evaluated using a range of organic nitrogen and phosphorus structures tested at low, mid and high range concentrations from 2 to 50 mg l-1 nitrogen and 0.2 to 10 mg l-1 phosphorus. Mean recoveries for nitrogen ranged from 94.5% (2 mg l-1) to 92.7% (50 mg l-1) and for phosphorus were 98.2% (0.2 mg l-1) to 100.2% (10 mg l-1). The method is precise in its ability to reproduce results from replicate digestions, and robust in its ability to handle a variety of natural water samples in the pH range 5-8.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/0043-1354(92)90122-K