Total Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen in Sediments and Soils: A Comparison of the Wet Oxidation – Titration Method with the Combustion-infrared Method

Abstract

Abstract Total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) are the most important components of sediments and soils as they can be used to distinguish marine and terrestrial sources of organic matter, environmental depositional conditions, pollution indices and soil quality and productivity indicators. In this paper we present datasets of measurements of TOC and TN in sediments applying high temperature (720 C) catalytic combustion (Pt/Al 2 O 3 ) oxidation method, as well as measurements of soil certified references materials (CRM). The detection of TOC and TN was performed using an infrared or a chemiluminescence detector, respectively. We validate the methods studying the range of measurement, the repeatability, reproducibility and precision. TOC results are compared with these measured by the widely used modified Wakley-Black titration method of Gaudette et al. (1974). This comparison indicated that the catalytic combustion method and Wakley-Black titration method have a very good correlation for low total organic carbon content (less than 5%), as well as for high organic carbon content (till 40%), while for sediments with higher organic load the catalytic combustion method is more accurate.