Total carbon

Total carbon (TC) is an analytical measurement for carbon content. This measurement is commonly found in environmental and pharmaceutical analysis.

Carbon types

A variety of different terms are used to identify the different types of carbon present at different levels of detail.

Relationship between carbon types
  • Total carbon (TC) – all the carbon in the sample, including both inorganic and organic carbon
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOC) – also referred to as purgeable organic carbon (POC); organic carbon that has been removed from a neutral, or acidified sample by purging with an inert gas. These are usually determined by purge and trap gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
  • Non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC) – commonly referred to as TOC; organic carbon remaining in an acidified sample after purging the sample with gas.
  • Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) – organic carbon remaining in a sample after filtering the sample, typically using a 0.45 micrometer filter.
  • Suspended organic carbon – also called particulate organic carbon (POC); the carbon in particulate form that is too large to pass through a filter.
  • Elemental carbon (EC) – charcoal, coal, and soot. Resistant to analytical digestion and extraction, EC can be a fraction of either TIC or TOC depending on analytical approach.[1]

References

  1. ^ Schumacher, B. A. (2002). "Methods for the Determination of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in Soils and Sediments" Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center. US. Environmental Protection Agency 23p.

This page was last updated at 2021-02-15 18:09 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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