I am using laser diffraction to determine the particle size distribution of soil samples. I am having a hard time removing the fibrous portion of the organic matter using the standard peroxide approach. This would not be such an issue if I was using the pipette or sieving methods as the remaining organic matter would have a very small mass compared to the mass of the mineral component. Laser diffraction methods are based on a volume distribution and I think the remaining organic matter has a substantial volume compared to the mineral component.
@ Sami Ullah. Thanks for the suggestion, I have thought about using a muffle furnace but I am unsure about the effect that it will have on the mineral components especially the clays. The other option i am considering is separating out the light organic fraction using a high density fluid (NaI) and floating off the light fraction prior to particle size analysis. Any thoughts on this approach?
I know that this is an old thread, but I came across it while researching PSD techniques. I'm no expert, but if the goal is to remove the organic component, why not simply air-dry your sample and then sieve to 2 mm?
This would remove pebbles and fibrous organics. The organics could then be burnt off in a muffle furnace (leaving the mineral components of finer soils intact, since they wouldn't be exposed to the high temperatures), and the pebbles could then be added back into the sample for laser diffraction PSA.
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