CIVE550 LAB

Introduction
 Lab safety and rules
6 sets of experiments:
pH, alkalinity
turbidity, chlorides
phosphates, hardness, conductivity
fecal and total bacteria, nitrates
total solids
jar test
Grading Criteria:

drop quizzes should be expected anytime

lab reports in groups

final examination in the lab individual work

 experiment sets 1 and 2:
pH, alkalinity, turbidity and chlorides
 1. pH
expresses the hydrogen ion activity in a solution: pH = - log {H+}
for very dilute solutions: pH = - log [H+]
one of the most significant & frequently used tests in water chemistry
among pH-dependent environmental engineering processes are:

- chemical coagulation
- precipitation
- disinfection
- water softening
- corrosion control
- sludge de-watering
- biological growth
- oxidation
- acid/base neutralization
 parameters that affect pH

the amount of plant growth within a as CO2 is

water body released, it
the presence of organic material combines
with water to
point source pollution e.g. dumping of form carbonic
industrial pollutants acid that can
soda ash / NaOH injection often used as lower pH
a treatment method to raise the pH
 pH
electrometric method for measurement:
potentiometer
pH sensitive glass electrode
reference electrode for constant electrode potential
(completes the circuit)
temperature-compensating device

pH does not measure total acidity or alkalinity but rather

depends on the degree of ionization (KA).
most pH sensors produce a 0 mV signal at 7.0 pH
the developed potential voltage is proportional to the
pH of the solution
 what does pH influence?
chemical and biological processes e.g. distribution of species
in aquatic habitats
corrosivity: higher for more acidic water
can affect disinfection efficiency: a high pH makes chlorine
disinfection less effective
has drastic effects on health, e.g. high pH may affect the eye,
skin, hair, gastro-intestine, etc. low pH can irreversibly damage
the epithelium and can irritate the eyes
 pH examples

a low pH increases the solubility of toxic and heavy

metals (e.g. Cd, Pb, Cr) and thus they can be easily
absorbed.

changes in pH can alter the behavior of other

chemicals, e.g. ammonia is harmless to fish in acidic
water but is toxic as pH increases

natural waters have water ranging from 4 to 9 and

most are slightly basic due to the presence of
carbonates and bicarbonates.
pH - examples
titrimetric measurement
 titrimetric methods
summary of principle:
1. put known volume of your sample inside a
beaker or Erlenmeyer flask
2. add the corresponding indicator
3. fill the burette till the zero mark with the your
solution of a known concentration/or zero the
electronic titrator
4. start adding the solution from the burette till
the indicator changes its color
5. record the consumed volume and solve for
the unknown concentration
 alkalinity

the acid-neutralizing capacity of a fluid; acts as a pH buffer

due primarily to the salts of weak acids:
hydroxides, carbonates and bicarbonates
application in environmental engineering processes: coagulation,
softening, corrosion control, buffer capacity, controlled discharge
of caustic industrial wastes, amenability to biological treatment
limit < 200 mg/L
sources include partitioning of CO2 from the atmosphere and the
weathering of carbonates in rocks and soils
 alkalinity - significance

alkalinity provides info about how sensitive the water is to acid inputs
when turbidity is removed by C/F, H+ is released: alkalinity has to be in
excess of this H+ for coagulation to be effective
bicarbonates and carbonates may complex with other elements
altering their toxicity and transport

is crucial in wastewater purification since it

determines the capacity of wastes to contribute
to the treatment and biological processes
 alkalinity the 3 forms

alkalinity removal options

lime softening removes hardness and also alkalinity as it converts
bicarbonate to carbonate
ion exchange resins remove anions and replace them with chlorides
addition of a mineral acid that transforms bicarbonates into
carbonic acid.
 alkalinity

determined by titration of your sample with an acid of known

normality and volume
reported in terms of CaCO3 concentration
for a sample with pH > 8.3, add phenolphthalein indicator where
we go from colorless sample to a pink sample. This is due to the
presence of OH-
this titration is done till pH is < 4.5 where we add the mixed
indicator (bromocresol green-methyl red) and the solution
changes color to blue because of carbonates and bicarbonates.
the color now changes from blue to red indicating that these ions
have been neutralized.
 alkalinity method of measurement

1. place 50 ml of your sample into an Erlenmeyer flask

2. add 6 drops of Phenolphthalein
3. add 2 ml of Mixed indicator (red color)
4. titrated with 0.02 N HCL
5. if first a pink color appeared then titrate till the solution becomes
colorless and record the value that will be your 8.3 inflection point
6. other wise a blue color will appear and you titrate till it turns back
to red
7. record the values and apply the titration equation to get alkalinity
alkalinity
chlorides
 chlorides
chlorides constitute ~ 0.05 % of the earths crust
seawater has a natural chloride concentration of 35 ppt
no biological processes to remove chlorides
toxicity of chlorides depends on the cation: that of chloride is
unknown
chloride increases conductivity and hence corrosivity.
examples:

NaCl: used in industrial chemicals e.g. caustic soda, chlorine,

sodium chlorite, sodium hypochlorite
NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 are widely used in snow and ice control
KCl is used in the production of fertilizers
 chlorides
occur in all natural water in varying concentrations
secondary standard < 250 mg/L
higher concentrations are harmful to metallic pipes, to growing
plants and to aquatic organisms
increases with mineral content e.g. in rivers & GW
can be a tracer for GW contamination by wastewater or leachate
since its not adsorbed by soil nor altered by biological processes
method of measurement by titration
 100 mL of sample; if high concentration expected: dilute

1 mL: Indicator for chlorides

Sources: natural & anthropogenic
chloride is a highly mobile ion

runoff containing de-icing salts

inorganic fertilizers
landfill leachate
leaching from rocks
septic tank effluents
animal feeds
industrial effluents
seawater intrusion
water treatment using chlorine
 turbidity what is it?

the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid

large numbers of individual suspended particles
generally not visible to the eye: ranging from
colloidal to coarse suspensions
this matter interferes with the passage of light
turbidity expresses an optical property that
causes light to be scattered and absorbed rather
than transmitted
 turbidity what is it?
caused by:
natural e.g. soil erosion, excessive algal growth
human activities e.g. construction, mining,
agriculture, wastewater discharge, urban runoff
 turbidity - significance
may cause gastrointestinal diseases: contaminants
e.g. bacteria/ viruses can attach to the SS
SS interfere with disinfection e.g. chlorine or UV
may scour machinery
reduces the amount of light reaching lower depths
may affect the ability of fish gills to absorb DO
may obscure obstructions: swimmers and boaters

is important to select pretreatment and also to

evaluate a treatment process
 turbidity - measurement
removal options

measurement:
principle of nephlometry: detects the amount of
light scattered by the water sample.
1) a light source illuminates the sample
2) photoelectric detectors indicate the intensity
of scattered light at right angles to the incident
light.
3) depends on shape, color and reflectivity
 turbidity - measurement
principle of nephlometry: (cntd)

4) unit of measurement: NTU

5) standard reference suspensions (e.g. 1, 20, 500
and 4000 NTU)
6) pour sample and wait until air bubbles
disappear
7) water color due to dissolved substances that
absorb light causes turbidity values to be low
 Lab exercise:
1) prepare 6 replicate tap water samples 500 mL each
2) add 5 g of KCl and 5 g of CaCl2 to each
3) record your group name on each and label the 6 samples as
N, B, F, I, S, and R e.g. W2-F
4) measure and record the pH, alkalinity or turbidity and
chlorides of the N sample
5) Place the F sample at 4C, the I sample at - 80C while keep
the R and B samples at room temperature and the S sample in
the sun for next lab.