Chapter 1: Introduction - GE Sievers 900 Series Operation And Maintenance Manual

Chapter 1. Introduction
The Sievers™ 900 Series Total Organic Carbon Analyzers from GE Analytical Instruments includes
high-sensitivity Analyzers used to measure the concentration of total organic carbon (TOC), total
inorganic carbon (TIC), and total carbon (TC = TOC + TIC) in water samples (for patent information,
see the section called "Trademarks and Patents" on page 14).
The Analyzer is based on the oxidation of organic compounds to form carbon dioxide (CO ) using
2
UV radiation and a chemical oxidizing agent (ammonium persulfate). Carbon dioxide is measured
using a sensitive, selective membrane-based conductometric detection technique as described by
Godec et al. (R. Godec et al., "Method and Apparatus for the Determination of Dissolved Carbon in
Water," U.S. Patent No. 5,132,094). For each TOC measurement, the concentration of inorganic
- -2
carbon species (CO , HCO , and CO ) is determined and, after oxidation of the organic
2 3 3
compounds, the total carbon (TC) content of the sample is measured. The concentration of the
organic compounds is then calculated from the difference between the concentrations of TC and
total inorganic carbon (TIC), generally referred to simply as inorganic carbon (IC).
(TOC = TC - IC)
The Analyzer can be used to monitor water samples ranging from high-purity water containing <0.3
parts per billion (ppb) TOC to water samples containing up to 50 parts per million (ppm) TOC. The
Analyzer is easy to operate, with extremely low maintenance, and no special training or chemical
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