prEN 17776

Scope

This document specifies a method for the determination of total organic carbon (TOC) by elemental analysis using dry combustion. The method is applicable to organic and organo-mineral fertilizers containing more than 1 g carbon per kg of dry matter (0,1 %), with the exclusion of organo-mineral fertilizers containing urea-formaldehyde polymers or urea as long as there is no method available to assess carbon in urea-formaldehyde polymers or urea. This document is applicable to the component materials “by-products”, or “recovered high-purity materials”, when used as components of fertilizing products, as well as the fertilizing products blends where a blend is a mix of at least two of the following components: fertilizers, liming materials, soil improvers, growing media, inhibitors, plant biostimulants and where the following category: organic fertilizers, organo-mineral fertilizers is the highest % in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of liquid form by dry mass. If the organic fertilizer or the organo-mineral fertilizer is not the highest % in the blend, the European Standard for the highest % of the blend applies. In case a fertilizing product blend is composed of components in equal quantity, the user decides which standard to apply. Variations in analytical methods for fertilizing product blends can lead to differing results as some components or matrix interactions can affect the outcome. Validation procedures have shown that developed standard methods are robust and reliable across diverse product compositions, but possible interferences and unexpected results when analysing fertilizing product blends are possible. This document is applicable and validated for several types of matrices as indicated in Annex B.