Rapid Determination of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen Using Microwave Digestion

A closed-vessel microwave digestion process for the determination of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) has been developed for sewage and wastewater. TKN values obtained from the microwave digestion method were in excellent agreement with those of the thermal digestion method. The accuracy of both analyt...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental science and health. Part A, Toxic/hazardous substances & environmental engineering Toxic/hazardous substances & environmental engineering, 2005-01, Vol.40 (3), p.609-615
Main Authors: Lo, K. V., Wong, W. T., Liao, P. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Digestion
Environmental engineering
Health
Hot Temperature
Kjeldahl nitrogen determination
Mathematical analysis
Microwave digestion
Microwaves
Nitrogen - analysis
Sewage
Sewage - analysis
Sewage sludge
Sewage wastewater
Sludge
Time Factors
Toxicology
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Waste water
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A closed-vessel microwave digestion process for the determination of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) has been developed for sewage and wastewater. TKN values obtained from the microwave digestion method were in excellent agreement with those of the thermal digestion method. The accuracy of both analytical methods is comparable. In comparison to the conventional thermal digestion, the microwave method shortened the time required for complete digestion from 4 h to 25 min, and also decreased the maximum digestion temperature from 380 °C to 200 °C. This developed method may contribute to a significant reduction in sample digestion time, resulting in an increase in analytical throughput. The microwave digestion method developed in this study could be a rapid and efficient means for TKN determination for sewage wastewater and sludge.
ISSN:1093-4529
1532-4117
DOI:10.1081/ESE-200046607