Hydrazine is a man-made chemical and is not found in natural waters. The determination of hydrazine is usually made on boiler feedwaters, process waters, and other waters that have been treated with hydrazine (N₂H₄) for the purpose of maintaining residuals to prevent corrosion by dissolved oxygen. This reducing chemical reacts with dissolved oxygen to form nitrogen and water. However, under certain conditions it can also decompose to form ammonia and nitrogen. Hydrazine is used extensively as a preboiler treatment chemical for high-pressure boilers to scavenge small amounts of dissolved oxygen that are not removed by mechanical aeration. It has the advantage over sulfite treatment in that it does not produce any dissolved solids in the boiler water. Hydrazine is often determined in concentrations below 0.1 mg/L. However, in layup solutions for the protection of idle boilers, hydrazine may be present in concentrations as high as 200 mg/L.

Additionally, hydrazine provides protection where reducing conditions are required, particularly in mixed metallurgy systems for the protection of the copper alloys.

Hydrazine is a suspected carcinogen and a threshold limit value in the atmosphere of 1.0 mg/L has been set by OSHA. When in an aqueous solution, hydrazine will oxidize to nitrogen and water in the presence of air over a relatively short period of time.

1.1 This test method covers the colorimetric determination of hydrazine in boiler feed waters, condensates, natural, and well waters that have been treated with hydrazine (N2H 4). This test method is usable in the range from 5.0 to 200 g/L (ppb) hydrazine. The range is for photometric measurements made at 458 nm in 50 mm cell. Higher concentrations of hydrazine can also be determined by taking a more diluted sample.

1.2 It is the users' responsibility to ensure the validity of this test method for untested types of waters.

This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. For specific precautionary statements, see 5.3, Note 1, and Footnote 8.