A simple automatic phototitrator for the determination of total carbonate and total alkalinity of sea water

An automatic photometric analyser based on the reversed use of a conventional motor syringe buret and modern optoelectronic components is described. The buret serves as a photometric titration vessel into which sample and reagents are selectively drawn through a set of solenoid valves. It has been applied to the photometric titration of total alkalinity and total carbonate concentration of sea water, giving precisions of 0.10% and 0.13%, respectively.