Quantification of soil inorganic carbon using sulfamic acid and gas chromatography

Quantification of soil inorganic carbon using sulfamic acid and gas chromatography | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Quantification of soil inorganic carbon using sulfamic acid and gas chromatography Christopher Yip, Philip D. Weyman, Kimberly A. Wemmer, Yun-Ya Yang, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, and these emissions impact the carbon cycle for hundreds to thousands of years. As carbon dioxide removal strategies to address this challenge continue to be explored and scaled, faster methodologies with high accuracy and precision are required to support the carbon measurements on which these strategies hinge. Of the many available methods to measure soil inorganic carbon, only a select few satisfy all the following criteria: measure inorganic carbon directly, use standardized equipment, perform the measurement automatically, and operate at high throughput. In this work we present a robust protocol for the sensitive and specific quantification of inorganic carbon from soils using gas chromatography to quantify carbon dioxide evolved from carbonates in soil with sulfamic acid. We demonstrate the precision of this method with purified carbonates, carbonate minerals, biogenic carbonates, and agricultural soil samples. We also demonstrate the accuracy of this method by adding known amounts of calcium carbonate to a variety of soil matrices. We find that sulfamic acid is well suited for carbonate dissolution and is compatible with gas chromatography applications, and we note that the method generates results that are equivalent to the typical methods used in this field. This method is compatible with automation and operation at a greater scale and enables the creation of higher resolution soil inorganic carbon datasets. Analytical Chemistry Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: Christopher Yip, Philip D. Weyman, Kimberly A. Wemmer, Yun-Ya Yang, Anupam Chowdhury, Bjorn A. Traag, Tania Timmermann, and Gonzalo Fuenzalida-Meriz are employed by Andes Ag, Inc., the company that funded this study. Supplementary Table 2 is not available with this version. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6550108","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":449273431,"identity":"1ba1c630-cce7-4cd4-9c25-935a511832a8","order_by":0,"name":"Christopher Yip","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christopher","middleName":"","lastName":"Yip","suffix":""},{"id":449273432,"identity":"ee02785d-0d79-443b-87a3-b1d3fdbd8f5b","order_by":1,"name":"Philip D. Weyman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Philip","middleName":"D.","lastName":"Weyman","suffix":""},{"id":449273433,"identity":"735f8b8d-31ea-450d-95bd-ebed34dc690d","order_by":2,"name":"Kimberly A. Wemmer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kimberly","middleName":"A.","lastName":"Wemmer","suffix":""},{"id":449273434,"identity":"c833cd4a-f904-473e-9b6f-fddfc5f062bf","order_by":3,"name":"Yun-Ya Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yun-Ya","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":449273435,"identity":"71df61a5-a67c-45f8-a534-3732da7d069c","order_by":4,"name":"Anupam Chowdhury","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anupam","middleName":"","lastName":"Chowdhury","suffix":""},{"id":449273436,"identity":"7de63128-e5d5-43b7-ac2e-b1aea848abb4","order_by":5,"name":"Bjorn A. Traag","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bjorn","middleName":"A.","lastName":"Traag","suffix":""},{"id":449273437,"identity":"c4615d49-73dd-4509-965d-61ee8063df93","order_by":6,"name":"Tania Timmermann","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tania","middleName":"","lastName":"Timmermann","suffix":""},{"id":449273438,"identity":"c43f9ad2-2c42-4236-8972-0da021bfeac0","order_by":7,"name":"Gonzalo Fuenzalida-Meriz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCAgZ+KEOCsYG9AcgwsCCgxYBBsgHCAGrhOQBmEK2FgbFBIgHEwq1F3r338IcfBjYSBsfBDAvZ/pnPr274USDBwN/enYBNi+GZcwmGPQZpEgYQhoTxjNs5ZTeBDAaJM2c3YNUyI8cggcfgcJ3BDTBDIrHhdk7aDSAD6J1cnFoO/jE4LGFw/w2IIZE4/+aZtJt/8GiRl8gxbOYBabnBA2JIJG64wX7sNj5bDHjOGDPLAP0ieSYHxJAw3ngmh+02kMGDyy/y7T3GH99U2EjwHT8DYtTJzjt+/NnNN39s5Pjbe7HbcgBTjMcATGJTDralAVOM/QEu1aNgFIyCUTAyAQDgy2S2psOQYQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3471-0581","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gonzalo","middleName":"","lastName":"Fuenzalida-Meriz","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-28 17:55:44","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":true,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":81999144,"identity":"0cee3e4d-5b22-452e-a960-e8b76cf3f552","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-05 19:04:24","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1491287,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RevisiondraftQuantificationofsoilinorganiccarbonusingsulfamicacidandgaschromatography040225withfigures.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6550108/v1_covered_31903d14-d997-4bfd-a264-60b6bcc7f7a9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare potential competing interests as follows: The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: Christopher Yip, Philip D. Weyman, Kimberly A. Wemmer, Yun-Ya Yang, Anupam Chowdhury, Bjorn A. Traag, Tania Timmermann, and Gonzalo Fuenzalida-Meriz are employed by Andes Ag, Inc., the company that funded this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Table 2 is not available with this version.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuantification of soil inorganic carbon using sulfamic acid and gas chromatography\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Andes Ag, Inc.","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eCarbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, and these emissions impact the carbon cycle for hundreds to thousands of years. As carbon dioxide removal strategies to address this challenge continue to be explored and scaled, faster methodologies with high accuracy and precision are required to support the carbon measurements on which these strategies hinge. Of the many available methods to measure soil inorganic carbon, only a select few satisfy all the following criteria: measure inorganic carbon directly, use standardized equipment, perform the measurement automatically, and operate at high throughput. In this work we present a robust protocol for the sensitive and specific quantification of inorganic carbon from soils using gas chromatography to quantify carbon dioxide evolved from carbonates in soil with sulfamic acid. We demonstrate the precision of this method with purified carbonates, carbonate minerals, biogenic carbonates, and agricultural soil samples. We also demonstrate the accuracy of this method by adding known amounts of calcium carbonate to a variety of soil matrices. We find that sulfamic acid is well suited for carbonate dissolution and is compatible with gas chromatography applications, and we note that the method generates results that are equivalent to the typical methods used in this field. This method is compatible with automation and operation at a greater scale and enables the creation of higher resolution soil inorganic carbon datasets.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Quantification of soil inorganic carbon using sulfamic acid and gas chromatography","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-05 18:56:16","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6550108/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"201dd45e-0460-4859-9ff7-3bff423da087","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":47810168,"name":"Analytical Chemistry"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-05-05T18:56:16+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-05 18:56:16","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6550108","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6550108","identity":"rs-6550108","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}