Analysis without a pinch from salt
Thermo Electron Corporation's HiPerTOC high performance Total Organic Carbon (TOC) bench-top analyser can now be fitted with a new combustion tube for robustness in high salt matrix applications. The tube is said to be immune to corrosion by salts and resistant to temperature variations.
During combustion, corrosive salt residues can damage and even block the gold-plated IR detectors, reducing lifetime of the furnace tube from months to days. For this reason, TOC analysis is typically performed at 680°C with a catalyst that compensates for the slower combustion rate experienced at lower temperatures.
The HiPerTOC incorporates robust detectors that are immune to salts and, when combined with the new combustion tube, enable the oxidation to run at temperatures up to 1250°C, making use of a catalyst redundant. As a result, the need for maintenance is virtually eliminated.