Chemical Processes & Instrument Development: Instruments
Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
Principle of the Measurement
Catalytic conversion of all carbon species, including CO and CH4, to CO2 and detection either by non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) detection or cavity-ring down spectroscopy (CaRDS).
Species Measured
All C-containing species. The method has been verified for a range of organic compounds with a variety of functional groups.
Time Response
2-10 seconds
Detection Limit
Precision on 10s data ±5 to 10ppbC
Accuracy
± (2% + 10ppbC)
Applications
This instrument has been used for the calibration of VOC sources including gas and aerosol particle phases.
Contact
Key Publications
Veres, P., J. Gilman, J.M. Roberts, W. Kuster, C. Warneke, I.R. Burling, and J. de Gouw, Development and validation of a portable gas phase standard generation and calibration system for volatile organic compounds, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, doi:10.5194/amt-3-683-201, 2010.
Stockwell, C.E., R.A. Washenfelder, A. Kupc, B. Witkowski, R.K. Talukdar, Y. Liu, V. Selimovic, K.J. Zarzana, K. Sekimoto, C. Warneke, R.J. Yokelson, A.M. Middlebrook, J.M. Roberts, Characterization of a catalyst-based conversion technique to measure total particle nitrogen and organic carbon and comparison to a particle mass measurement instrument, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, doi:10.5194/amt-11-2749-2018, 2018.