Elemental analysis automatic organic

The PE 2400 CHN Analyzer (Fig. 4) can be modified to perform automatic determination of oxygen. The combustion tube is filled with platinized carbon reagent. The samples are pyrolyzed in an inert atmosphere of argon or helium. The reaction product CO is separated by frontal chromatography and measured by thermal conductivity. In the Leco CHN Analyzer, carbon monoxide is converted to carbon dioxide to be measured by infrared absorption. Neither CHN method is suitable for the analysis of organic substances which contain fluorine, phosphorus, silicon, or most metallic elements. 

A recent brief review showed the working principles of various automatic analyzers6. A modified account of N and O analysis will be presented here. Today there exist in the market instruments that perform organic elemental analyses in a few minutes. The ease and speed of such analyses enable the use of such instruments for routine analysis. Although some operational details vary from model to model and between one manufacturer and another, all these instruments can be considered as exalted versions of the classical Pregl determination of C and H by conversion to CO2 and H2O, together with Dumas method for N by conversion to N2, the calorimetric bomb method for S by conversion to SO2 and SO3 and Schultzes method for O by conversion to CO. This is combined with modern electronic control, effective catalysts and instrumental measuring methods such as IR detectors and GC analyzers. 

A method for rapid organic C and N analysis in natural particulate materials consists of eliminating carbonates with HC1 solution and determining these elements in an automatic analyzer7. 

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