The method for total carbon in sediment will not be changed. This paper should be available by January 1, 1999. Background The NWQL has used the traditional gasometric technique since the 1970's. This method is labor intensive and lacks the reproducibility of more modern techniques. The NWQL will implement this method except hydrochloric acid will be used to release the carbon dioxide.
Hydrochloric acid is much safer to use in the laboratory.
The results of the F-test demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the variances at the 0.05 significance level. The results for soil, bed sediments, and marine mud demonstrated that the analyzed concentrations were within 85 to 103 percent of the reference concentration. However, the analysis of a Kentucky shale sample only recovered about 60 percent of the reference concentration and had an RSD of 10 percent. The correlation coefficient was 0.997, indicating a strong correlation between the results of the two methods. However, the slope of the regression equation demonstrated that the results from the coulometric method were about 13 percent higher than the results from the gasometric method.