This method describes how to determine the total nitrogen content by means of the combustion method according to Dumas.
Malt intended for use in beer brewing or elsewhere in the food industry.
The sample is combusted in a pure oxygen atmosphere at approx. 1000 °C. The resulting mix of gases comes into contact with a CuO/Pt catalyst and is thereby completely oxidized and subsequently freed of all by-products which could potentially interfere with analysis.
After the nitrogen oxides formed in the combustion process are reduced upon contact with tungsten, all nitrogen compounds in the sample are reduced to elemental nitrogen (N2). The elemental nitrogen is then detected by means of a thermal conductivity detector (TCD), the signal of which is quantitatively evaluated by a dedicated integrator.