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Concept
Total organic carbon
Summary
Total organic carbon (TOC) is an analytical parameter representing the concentration of organic carbon in a sample. TOC determinations are made in a variety of application areas. For example, TOC may be used as a non-specific indicator of water quality, or TOC of source rock may be used as one factor in evaluating a petroleum play. For marine surface sediments average TOC content is 0.5% in the deep ocean, and 2% along the eastern margins.
A typical analysis for total carbon (TC) measures both the total organic carbon (TOC) present and the complementing total inorganic carbon (TIC), the latter representing the amount of non-organic carbon, like carbon in carbonate minerals. Subtracting the inorganic carbon from the total carbon yields TOC. Another common variant of TOC analysis involves removing the TIC portion first and then measuring the leftover carbon. This method involves purging an acidified sample with carbon-free air or nitrogen prior to measurement, and so is more accurately called non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC).
Since all TOC analyzers only actually measure total carbon, TOC analysis always requires some accounting for the inorganic carbon that is always present. One analysis technique involves a two-stage process commonly referred to as TC-IC. It measures the amount of inorganic carbon (IC) evolved from an acidified aliquot of a sample and also the amount of total carbon (TC) present in the sample. TOC is calculated by subtraction of the IC value from the TC of the sample. Another variant employs acidification of the sample to evolve carbon dioxide and measuring it as inorganic carbon (IC), then oxidizing and measuring the remaining non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC). This is called TIC-NPOC analysis. TC oxidizes in a combustion chamber at 1000 degrees Celsius while the combustion chamber for IC heats only to 150 degrees Celsius. The reason for this is because inorganic carbons oxidize at a lower temperature than organic carbons.
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