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Photochemical combustion of organic matter in sea water, for nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon determination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

F. A. J. Armstrong  and
Susan Tibbitts
F. A. J. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Susan Tibbitts
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory
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Extract

A photochemical reactor, using a medium power mercury arc lamp for oxidation of organic matter in sea water, is described. The decomposition of some known compounds in distilled water and in sea water, using a 380 W lamp, was followed. First order kinetics with rate constants in the range 0·2–4·0 h−1 were observed. All the nitrogen compounds tested, including urea and some of its derivatives, were oxidized quantitatively. Breakdown of phosphorus compounds was rapid, but polyphosphate esters yielded polyphosphate ion which was only slowly hydrolysed to reactive orthophosphate. If polyphosphate is to be determined, hydrolysis by heating with acid should follow the irradiation. Some samples of English Channel water contained 0·02-0–05 fig-axom P/1. as organic polyphosphate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , February 1968 , pp. 143 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1968

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References

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