A novel combustion system for the microdetermination of nitrogen

A method for the determination of nitrogen by combustion in a fast flow of pure oxygen is described. The oxygen is produced electrolytically and the hydrogen produced simultaneously is used to reduce the excess oxygen and oxides of nitrogen. A short layer of copper oxide oxidizes the hydrogen which remains uncombined due to the oxygen consumption of the sample. This layer is swept out by the water vapor; thus, only minute amounts of carbon dioxide are used, reducing the consumption of potassium hydroxide. The small layer of copper oxide can easily be reoxidized with air or technical oxygen. A virtually unlimited excess of oxygen during the combustion makes this method especially useful for samples difficult to combust and for trace determinations.