Rapid extraction of dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater and groundwater samples for radiocarbon dating

The focus of this thesis is the design and development of a system for rapid extraction of dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater and groundwater samples for radiocarbon dating. The Rapid Extraction of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon System (REDICS) consists of two subsystems - one for sample introduction, acidification, and carbon dioxide extraction, and one for carbon dioxide quantification and storing. The first subsystem efficiently extracts the dissolved inorganic carbon from the water sample in the form of carbon dioxide by utilizing a gas-permeable polymer membrane contractor. The second subsystem traps, quantifies and stores the extracted gas using cryogenics. The extracted carbon dioxide is further processed for stable and radiocarbon isotope analysis at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The REDICS system was tested using seawater standards collected at 470m and 4000m depth in the Atlantic Ocean and analyzing the extracted CO₂. The results were compared to the results for the same standards processed on the current NOSAMS water stripping line. The results demonstrate that the system successfully extracts more than 99% of the dissolved inorganic carbon in less than 20 minutes. Stable isotope and radiocarbon isotope analyses demonstrated system precision of 0.02%c and 3.5% respectively.

Department dc:contributor.department

Joint Program in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Gospodinova, Kalina Doneva

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ann McNichol.

• Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering.
• Mechanical Engineering.
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://hdl.handle.net/1912/5270
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74886

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/74886