This European Standard specifies the pretreatment required for sludge, treated biowaste and soil (including soil-like materials), that are subject to the analysis of organic as well as inorganic chemical and physico-chemical parameters.
The pretreatment of samples aims at preparing a (small) test sample which is representative for the original sample.
This European Standard describes the pretreatment which could be performed under field conditions if necessary (see Clause 8) and the sample pretreatment under laboratory conditions (Clause 10).
For determining inorganic chemical and physico-chemical parameters this European Standard describes procedures (see 10.2) to prepare:
- test samples for tests under field moist conditions;
- test samples for testing after drying, crushing, grinding, sieving etc.;
- test samples of liquid sludge.
For determination of organic compounds three pretreatment methods are specified:
- a pretreatment method if volatile organic compounds are to be measured (see 10.3.2);
- a pretreatment method if moderately volatile to non-volatile organic compounds are to be measured and the result of the following analysis will be accurate and reproducible (see 10.3.3);
- a pretreatment method if moderately volatile to non-volatile organic compounds are to be measured and the extraction procedure prescribes a field moist sample or if only indicative results are required (see 10.3.4).
The choice of the method depends above all on the volatility of the analyte. It also depends on the particle size distribution of the material (see Clause 5 and 8.3), the heterogeneity of the sample and the following analytical procedure.