The Percolator 32 is an automatic laboratory machine for producing percolate from soil samples. With this device you can sample up to 32 soil samples simultaneously. The automation of this extraction process and subsequent cleaning significantly reduces the amount of work in the laboratory while greatly increasing accuracy. You can preset the percolation volume, the percolation duration and the number of percolation cycles individually for each test. The exchange solution can be taken directly from the 4 percolate magazines, 8 volumetric flasks each, for further analysis.

The Percolator 32 has two function modes:

• Percolation mode: samples are percolated according to the inputs on the touch display.
• Rinsing mode: All tubes of the system are rinsed.

What is percolation?

Soils are open systems that, among other things, exchange substances with other ecosystem compartments. The type and amount of substances exchanged depend on the soil properties and the substances themselves. On the one hand, substances enter the soils and on the other hand, they are discharged from the soils.

An essential discharge process is the percolation of soils under humid conditions, which causes displacement and leaching of natural and anthropogenic substances by seepage water. Natural substances and man-made substances, including toxic substances, thus enter e.g. food chains, water bodies or the atmosphere.

Principle of percolation

The principle of percolation, i.e. the flow of water through the soil and the resulting dissolution of substances, is used in the extraction of cations (such as Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, Al3+, H+) from soil samples. In the soil sample under investigation, cations absorbed on the solid soil substrate are exchanged by contact with an electrolyte, such as barium chloride solution. Such exchange solutions can be prepared, for example, according to DIN EN ISO 11260:18-11. The exchanged cations can then be determined in the collected percolate, the leached equilibrium solution.

The type, quantity and quantitative ratio of the exchanged cations provide information on chemical and physical soil properties as well as soil development. An important pedological measure is the determination of the effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), which is determined by the sum of all exchangeable main cations at the current pH value of the soil.

• 1 x rack made of Alunut profiles and Alucobond for up to 32 samples
• 4 x removable volumetric flask magazines with spring clips and handle for 8 x glass flasks 250 ml each
• 35 x glass flasks 250 ml (incl. 3 x reserve)
• 4 x removable exchange tube magazines with handle for 8 x glass tubes each
• 35 x glass tubes (incl. 3 x reserve)
• 1 x single-channel peristaltic squeeze pumps for feeding the tubes via 32 capillary tubes and 32 peristaltic squeeze valves
• 1 x web-enabled, color touch display, 10", with German or English menu language
• 3 x chemical resistant canisters for perculation medium, volume 10 l