Flash Smart: NC/NCS Nitrogen and Carbon Analyzer

The Flash Smart Series Nitrogen and Carbon analyzer is an easy and comprehensive instrument able to become an irreplaceable partner for every geological and environmental agronomy labs.

Nitrogen and carbon determination in soils is important for the evaluation of organic matter and for the
determination of fertilizers needed. They also provide
significant information on the nutritional elements of
plants which are key factors for their future growth.
The determination of nitrogen content provides insight
on the quality of different types of crop, used for feeding
and processing, as well as for N-cycle and N-fixation
monitoring in agricultural and environmental research.
The differentiation of Total Carbon (TC) and Total Organic
Carbon (TOC) is also useful to evaluate the quality of soils
while sulfur is an essential component of living matter.
The deficiency of sulfur has a negative influence in the
growth of vegetables and in the quality of proteins. Also,
the carbon / nitrogen ratio of the organic material added
to the soil influences the rate of decomposition of organic

matter and this results in the release or immobilization of soil nitrogen. If the added organic material contains
more nitrogen in proportion to the carbon, then nitrogen
is released into the soil from the decomposing organic
material, while if the organic material has less nitrogen
in relation to carbon, then the microorganisms will utilize
the soil nitrogen for further decomposition and the soil
nitrogen will be immobilized and will not be bioavailable.
Therefore, cellular carbon and nitrogen metabolism must
be tightly coordinated to sustain optimal growth and
development for plants.
Soil and plant testing by traditional methods are no
longer suitable for routine analysis due to their time
consuming preparation and the use of environmentally
hazardous reagents. Therefore, the use of accurate
instrument analytical techniques is required. As the
demand for improved sample throughput, reduction of
operational costs and minimization of human errors has
increased, a simple and automated technique that allows
fast analysis with excellent reproducibility is essential for
reliable nitrogen and carbon determination.

The Thermo Scientific™ FlashSmart™ NC Soils Analyzer, based on the dynamic flash combustion of
the sample, copes effortlessly with the wide array of
laboratory requirements such as accuracy, day to day
reproducibility and high sample throughput. Nitrogen
and carbon determination in soil and plant samples is
fully automated in the Analyzer. The same analytical
conditions can be used for Total Carbon and Total
Organic Carbon determination, after acid treatment
of the sample. Through its flexibility, the Analyzer allows the
simultaneous NCS analysis while for trace sulfur
determination, the Analyzer can be easily coupled
with a Flame Photometric Detector (FPD). This method
combines the advantages of the elemental analyzer with
the sensitivity, selectivity and robustness of the FPD.

Methods
The FlashSmart Analyzer operates according to the
dynamic flash combustion technique. Samples are
weighed in tin containers and introduced into the
combustion reactor from the Thermo Scientific™ MAS
Plus Autosampler together with a proper amount of
oxygen. In NC configuration, after combustion, the
resultant gases are carried by a helium flow to a second
reactor filled with copper, then through a water trap,
a GC column and finally, detected by the Thermal
Conductivity Detector (TCD).
In S (single determination) or simultaneous NCS
configuration, after combustion of the sample, the
resulting gases are carried by a helium flow to a layer
filled with copper, then through a water trap, a GC
column and finally, detected by the TCD. For
trace sulfur analysis, after the water trap, the gases are
carried by a helium flow through a short GC column and
finally, detected by a FPD.