Pressure calcimeter as a simple method for measuring the CaCO3 content of soil and comparison with Scheibler calcimeter

A pressure calcimeter was made as an alternative to Scheibler calcimeter which is the conventional methodof soil CaCO3 content analyses. Since the measurement of CaCO3 content of soil with Scheibler calcimeter isa slow and labor intensive method, the accuracy and presicion of the results are based on labor experience.The pressure calcimeter gives fast and accurate results by eliminating these disadvantages. The measurementof CaCO3 by pressure calcimeter, as in Scheibler, is done by measuring pressure of CO2 gas produced fromreaction of soil with HCl. The gas pressure, formed by the chemical reaction in a gasproof chamber wasmeasured by a digital manometer on the cap. The results were converted to % CaCO3 by calculations.Excellent correlation (R2=0,998) was obtained in calibration carried out with pure CaCO3. 46 soil samplescontain CaCO3 between % 1–30 were analysed by Scheibler calcimeter and the results were compared withpressure calcimeter. It can be concluded that pressure calcimeter has given satisfactory results and can beused as an alternative to conventional Scheibler calcimeter in soil CaCO3 content analysis.