Biogenic or biobased carbon content according to ASTM D6866

Measurement of biogenic or biobased carbon in a material or product as a percent of the total carbon or total organic carbon in the product.

ASTM D6866 outlines two ways of expressing the proportion of material that originates from renewable resources. Biogenic carbon content indicates the proportion of total carbon (TC) originating from renewable resources. Alternatively, inorganic carbon can be removed before testing, and the result is then expressed in relation to total organic carbon (TOC), giving the biobased carbon content. An additional cost applies to the removal of inorganic carbon.

The displayed price applies to non-volatile samples. If your sample is volatile, please discuss the suitability of your sample type with our experts. Please also note that we cannot accept samples that contain artificial carbon-12, carbon-13, or carbon-14 isotopes because they will cause damage to the equipment.

Note! The results obtained for gaseous emissions should always be expressed as "biogenic carbon content" because the initial step of converting carbon to gaseous CO2 cannot be done when the carbon is already in gaseous form.

Biobased carbon content determination by ASTM D6866 does not reveal how much of the sample's total weight originates from renewable sources. This can be estimated, however, by combining data on biobased carbon content with information on the total carbon content of the product.

One common application of this measurement is determining the biomass fraction of CO2 emissions for the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), as required by the Monitoring and Reporting Regulation (MRR). For this purpose, testing is for relevant municipal waste incineration plants and industrial plants that use mixed fuels.