Total Organic Carbon (TOC) & Black Carbon

It has been shown that organic carbon can influence the bioavailability of trace organic contaminants of concern, with the anthropogenic black carbon (sometimes referred to as soot) being an important fraction of the total. Alpha can perform Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Black Carbon determinations as part of our routine sediment characterization suite of methodologies.

Alpha can utilize EPA Method 9060 or the Lloyd Kahn procedure for Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analysis. For Black Carbon analysis, Alpha follows the procedure referenced in "Quantification of the Dilute Sedimentary Soot Phase: Implications for PAH Speciation and Bioavailability", written by Gustafsson, Chan, MacFarlane and Gschwend; Environmental Science & Technology, 1997, Vol 31, pgs 203-209.  Our standard operating procedure utilizes phosphoric acid rather than hydrochloric acid.

Alpha performs both Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Black Carbon analysis in duplicate due to the inherent variability associated with these analyses as a result of the small sample aliquots utilized by the methods. Alpha can perform these analyses in triplicate or quadruplicate, if requested, to improve the level of certainty.