Preparation line for stable nitrogen and carbon isotope meassurements

The meassurements of nitrogen and carbon isotopes on organic material are carried out on a Finnigan MAT Delta plus coupled with an CE element analyser and a Con-Flo II interface.

FAQs about the preparation of organic nitrogen samples:

1.) How much material is needed?
The amount of nitrogen needed for a meassurement is 30 microgramm

2.) What is the accuracy of the meassurements?
The long-term standard deviation of our internal standard is < 0.4‰ for ?N-15 and <0.1‰ for ?C-13

3) Which standards do you use?
We use material from an organic rich deep sea sediment - the same as for organic carbon samples which is calibrated against IAEA N1 and IAEA N2 as internal standard.

4) Do the samples need any pre-treatment
If C-13/C-12 and N-15/N-14should be meassured on the same sample, it must be decarbonized. If not, the samples only have to be packed into tin boats.