Development of an Automated System for Preparation of Organic Samples

Abstract

We constructed an automated system to transform organic samples to CO2, which included several options such as: combustion in 2 steps with collection of the 2 fractions, volatile fraction combustion, and 13C sampling. The process includes organic matter combustion, CO2 drying, quantification of the mass of carbon, CO2 collection in a glass vial, and eventually 13C sampling. The system is computer-controlled and-monitored. The apparent background age of the automated system reaches 0.191 +/ 0.011 pMC (2 sigma), equivalent to a 14C age of about 51,700 yr BP, and requires only 30 min of handling, instead of the several days needed when using a manual procedure.