Chemiluminescence method with potassium permanganate for the determinationof organic pollutants in seawater

A chemiluminescence method with potassium permanganate was developed for us e as an indicator of organic pollutants in fresh water. This method could b e applied to the determination of organic pollutants in seawater as well. H owever, the flow chemiluminescence method suffered from the interference of chloride ions at the same concentration of seawater because of the product ion of manganese dioxide in the oxidation of chloride ions with permanganat e. The conditions (concentrations of potassium permanganate and sulfuric ac id and sample volume, i.e. flow injection method) were chosen to minimize t he interference of chloride ions. The chemiluminescence method shows a good correlation with the chemical oxygen demand method on fresh water added ar tificial sea salt and seawater samples. Natural seawater was analyzed by th e chemiluminescence method. The results obtained were compared with those o btained by chemical oxygen demand under the alkaline condition and total or ganic carbon methods. The chemiluminescence method has higher sensitivity a nd reproducibility than the conventional chemical oxygen demand and total o rganic carbon methods.