Total carbon and nitrogen is determined by complete and instantaneous oxidation of the sample "flash combustion," which converts all organic and inorganic substances into combustion products. The resulting combustion gases pass through a reduction furnace and are swept into the chromatographic column by the carrier gas, which is helium. The gases are separated in the column and detected by the thermal conductivity detector, which gives an output signal proportional to the concentration of the individual components of the mixture. 

The Analyzer is fully controlled through a dedicated Eager 300 software. The method is applicable for the determination of total carbon and total nitrogen.

Note: To determine total N and C, the sample weight required is at least 3 g of plant sample.