rapid microwave digestion method for colorimetric measurement of soil organic carbon

Soil organic matter is an active component of agroecosystems. Rapid and precise measurement of organic carbon (C(org)) is essential to monitor changes in organic matter and soil quality. A new semi-micro wet digestion method for the determination of C(org) was developed using rapid microwave energy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications in soil science and plant analysis 1998-01, Vol.29 (15/16), p.2269-2284
Main Authors: Islam, K.R, Weil, R.R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acid treatment
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
carbon
Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties
determination
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geochemistry
microwave treatment
Organic matter
oxidation
Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils
soil analysis
Soil and rock geochemistry
soil organic matter
Soil science
spectroscopy
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Summary:Soil organic matter is an active component of agroecosystems. Rapid and precise measurement of organic carbon (C(org)) is essential to monitor changes in organic matter and soil quality. A new semi-micro wet digestion method for the determination of C(org) was developed using rapid microwave energy applied at 500 J mL(-1) digestion mixture to enhance oxidation of C(org) by K2Cr2O7 and conc. H2SO4. This proposed method and three existing methods of soil C determination were compared with the LECO dry combustion carbon analyzer. The r(2) value for the proposed microwave method regressed against LECO C was 0.9913. The recovery of C(org) by the rapid microwave digestion method for spectrophotometric measurement was 91.7 +/- 1.2% (conversion factor 1.09) of C measured by the LECO dry combustion method. Compared to the traditional Walkley-Black's method, the proposed spectrophotometric with microwave digestion method was rapid and more precise, used smaller reagent volumes, and produced less waste.
ISSN:0010-3624
1532-2416
DOI:10.1080/00103629809370110