Download Technical Note on the Determination of Nitrogen

As the demand for accurate soil analysis increases, agriculturalists will need faster, less expensive analytical methods to determine the type and amount of fertilizer required for optimum crop growth. Today, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) is the most commonly used technique for the determination of nutrient elements in fertilizers, while combustion analysis is used for nitrogen. Until recently, ICP-OES could not achieve the accuracy and precision necessary to measure nitrogen due to the elevated background effects caused by atmospheric nitrogen, as well as the inherent stability limitations associated with older instrument designs.

Leeman Labs Prodigy ICP with new Nitrogen Accessory includes an air free optical path, a custom torch designed to prevent migration of nitrogen (from air) into the plasma and an innovative sample degassing device that is designed to work with conventional solution autosamplers. Together, these innovations allow the modern ICP to achieve levels of accuracy that used to require a dedicated nitrogen analyzer.