ISO INTERNATIONAL STANDARD 13878 First edition 1998-03-15 Soil quality Determination of total nitrogen content by dry combustion ("elemental analysis") Qualite du sol Determination de la teneur totale en azote par combustion seche (analyse élémentaire) ISO Reference number ISO 13878:1998(E) by IHS under lic itted without license from IHS Not for Resale ISO13878:1998(E) Foreword IsO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federationofnationalstandardsbodies(lsOmemberbodies).Theworkof preparing International Standards is normally carried out through isO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non- governmental, in liaison with SO, also take part in the work. isO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (lEC)onallmattersofelectrotechnicalstandardization. Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote. International Standard ISO 13878 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 190, Soil quality, Subcommittee SC 3, Chemical methods and soil characteristics. Annexes A and B of this International Standard are for information only. @ISO1998 All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher. InternationalOrganizationforStandardization Case postale 56· CH-1211 Geneve 20 · Switzerland Internet [email protected] X.400 C=ch; a=400net; p=iso; 0=isocs; S=central Printed in Switzerland without license from IHS Not for Resale INTERNATIONAL STANDARD @ ISO ISO 13878:1998(E) Soil quality Determination of total nitrogen content by 1 Scope This lnternational Standard describes a method for the determination of the total nitrogen of soil after dry combustion. It is applicable to all types of soil. NOTE - The method was developed originally as a manual method by Dumas [3]. Its applicability is improved greatly due to the use of modern automated equipment. 2 Normative references The following standards contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this International Standard. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the standards indicated below. Members of IEC and IsO maintain registers of currently valid International Standards. IsO 11464:1994, Soil quality — Pretreatment of samples for physico-chemical analyses. Iso 11465:1993, Soil quality - Determination of dry matter and water content on a mass basis — Gravimetric method. 3Principle 4 Reagents All reagents shall be of recognized analytical grade 4.1 Combustion gas (oxygen) For special requirements, see the instruction manual of the apparatus used.