Dear Soheil,

The following are the available method for the determination of wastewater total organic carbon (TOC):

1-The combustion-infrared method is suitable for samples with TOC = 1

mg/L. The combustion-infrared method has been used for a wide variety of samples,

but its accuracy is dependent on particle size reduction because it uses small-orifice

syringes.

Principle: The sample is homogenized and diluted as necessary and a

microportion is injected into a heated reaction chamber packed with an oxidative

catalyst such as cobalt oxide. The water is vaporized and the organic carbon is

oxidized to CO2 and H2O .The CO2 from oxidation of organic and Inorganic carbon is

transported in the carrier-gas streams and is measured by means of a nondispersive

infrared analyzer.

2-The persulfate-ultraviolet oxidation method:

Many instruments utilizing persulfate oxidation of organic carbon are available.

They depend either on heat or ultraviolet irradiation activation of the reagents. The

per -sulfate-ultraviolet oxidation method is a rapid, precise method for the

measurement of trace levels of organic carbon in water and is of particular interest to the electronic, pharmaceutical, and steam-power generation industries where even trace concentrations of organic compounds may degrade ion-exchange capacity, serve as a nutrient source for biological growth, or be detrimental to the process for which the water is being utilized.

Principle: Organic carbon is oxidized to carbon dioxide, CO2, by persulfate

in the presence of ultraviolet light. The CO2 produced may be measured directly by a nondispersive infrared analyzer, be reduced to methane and measured by a flame ionization detector, or be chemically nitrated.

3-The wet-oxidation method:

The wet-oxidation method is suitable for the analyses of water, watersuspended

sediment mixtures, brines, and wastewaters containing at least 0.1 mg

nonpurgeable organic carbon (NPOC)/ L. The method is not suitable for the

determination of volatile organic constituents.

Principle: The sample is acidified, purged to remove inorganic carbon, and

oxidized with persulfate in an autoclave at temperatures from 116 to 130 °C. The

resultant carbon dioxide (CO2) is measured by nondispersive infrared spectrometry.

For more on these methods, use the following link:

Please note that for all available methods you need to use an analyzer.

http://www.globallab.com.br/download/artigos/toc/standard_methods_toc.pdf

Hoping this will be helpful,

Rafik

If you want an idea of the organic matter content (not just Organic C), you can do volatile suspended solids. You do normal suspended solids determination, then use muffle furnace to removed organic matter and re weigh - difference is organic mater weight.. You will need to use glass fibre filters or correct for filter paper weight loss if you use the latter. Quick easy cheap.

For total organic carbon, Gravimetric process  can be tried. This may be economical and giving quick result. 

Dear Prof. Karaman

thanks for your kind answer. I read about the TOC determination methods in APHA AWA Standard methods, but all of them need carbon analyzer which is not available in our facility. I wanted to ask if there is any other methods.

Dear Soheil,

You may use the UV-vis appraoch to determine the dissolved organic carbon (DOC). For this method, please see attached publication entitled " RAPID DETERMINATION OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON BY PERSULFATE OXIDATION VIAL AND UV/VIS

SPECTROPHOTOMETER".

In addition, an article entitled " Determination of Organic Matter by UV Absorption in the Ground Water" published in  Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management 20(2):163-167 · June 2012describes a UV method for determining the TOC:

bstract

Organic matter in drinking water is determined by applying indirect determination methods used for quantitative measurements such as total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). These analyses require expensive devices, harmful chemical reagents, and are time consuming. Standard water quality tests are inconvenient during start-up or reconstruction of drinking water treatment plants as samples need to be transported to a laboratory and no on-line measurements on plant performing efficiency are available. For practical purposes, less sophisticated and faster methods to determine organic matter are required. One of the methods could be ultraviolet absorption of water at 254 nm wavelength (UV254). It is a technically simple and fast method for determining natural organic matter, requiring neither expensive measurement equipment nor chemical reagents. The present article aims at investigating the possibilities of practical applications of UV254 method to determine the concentration of natural organic matter in ground water. The research proved good correlation between TOC and UV254, as well as between CODMn and UV254. The outcomes of the research indicate that UV254 method can be successfully applied to determine natural organic matter concentrations in ground water.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254228413_Determination_of_Organic_Matter_by_UV_Absorption_in_the_Ground_Water

You may also see the following links which illustrate a UV-vis method for determining TOC:

https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYp--V7bTNAhUE2hoKHb6aAXsQIAhVMAY&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3ANUnOmNOuT2QJ%3Atti.tamu.edu%2Fdocuments%2F5-5540-01-P4.pdf%2B%26cd%3D7%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&usg=AFQjCNF4PDHezf7s0mhIT1Ndoexols677Q&sig2=jiMlH7KirEH30oyzlei8XQ

https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYp--V7bTNAhUE2hoKHb6aAXsQIAhcMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3A-EYAJxmDlRkJ%3Awww.jieas.com%2Fvolumes%2Fvol111-5%2Fabs11-v6-i5-14.pdf%2B%26cd%3D8%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&usg=AFQjCNH4Gvje84_vFz9zudRe-8qLGUcFTA&sig2=Y2PI3LfinF0RoawFtQLgBg

https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYp--V7bTNAhUE2hoKHb6aAXsQIAhkMAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3AqBGAIK2uDXsJ%3Awww.mdpi.com%2F1424-8220%2F16%2F1%2F61%2Fpdf%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&usg=AFQjCNG3dcDXjuAQ42w7KhnOMYhe_BswSA&sig2=9SI6nwpRiJz087QCEFxq8Q

https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiYp--V7bTNAhUE2hoKHb6aAXsQIAhuMAk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3Al8sHUXuSLg8J%3Awww.mdpi.com%2F1424-8220%2F12%2F4%2F3798%2Fpdf%2B%26cd%3D10%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&usg=AFQjCNE8RLu4_G2LYqpHc1BjtidzfTorUQ&sig2=A_L9zFkuzUmQQBixzawonQ

Hoping this will be helpful,

Rafik

Article Determination of Organic Matter by UV Absorption in the Ground Water

Just a word of caution - the UV method will require a filtered sample (as it is based on absorbance of the dissolved organic matter. If you have a waste stream full of animal manure and you want the total organic load of the waste water - simple UV approach may not be the right method.

I think that the best option (taking into account the facilities in the laboratory), will be the gravimetric method, ie: Total Volatile Solids. Estimating the ratio of total solids to total volatile solids (TS / TVS) you will have a good calculation of the organic content of the wastewater in question.

If u are not equipped with any kind of analytical techniques, I would suggest for gravimetric method irrespective of its difficultness to perform.