There are multiple methods of moisture determination, including loss on drying, Karl Fischer titration, piezoelectric sorption, spectroscopy, and chilled mirrors among others. However, it is advantageous to use Karl Fischer (KF) titration in moisture analysis for the following reasons:
- It is highly accurate and precise (Part Per Million Accuracy).
- KF is specific to water determination. This specification is different from the other popular moisture analysis method, loss on drying (LOD), because LOD can detect the loss of any volatile substance. However, this specification is advantageous because it allows KF titration to work independent from volatile substances present in the sample
- The process does not require large samples, which is typically truer with Loss on Drying where more sample is required to achieve higher accuracy and repeatability - which introduces another entirely different problem.
- It does not require much time to perform an analysis since the samples are easy to prepare and the analysis itself is short in duration.
- The method has a nearly unlimited measurement range (from 1ppm to 100%).
- Karl Fischer titration can determine the moisture content of a sample in any state, whether it is a solid, liquid, or gas.
We hope the above advantages show some of the benefits that Karl Fischer titrators can provide. Even today with technological advancements Karl Fisher Titration remains very popular not only because of the advantages we mention, but also because it is widely accepted as a standard for moisture detection and measurement.