A wet oxidation procedure suitable for the determination of nitrogen and mineral nutrients in biological material

Abstract A digestion mixture suitable for the decomposition of soil and plant materials is described. This is based on sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide as oxidants with the addition of lithium sulphate to elevate the digestion temperature and selenium as catalyst. The subsequent solution is suitable for the determination of nitrogen, phosphorus and most mineral ions. A series of tests have been carried out to determine optimum conditions and check elemental recoveries and the procedure is compared with alternative systems.