Experiment No. 4 DETERMINATION OF CHLORIDE Objective: Determine chloride ion concentration in a water sample.

Background: Chloride in the form of chloride ion (Cl-) is one of the major inorganic anions in water and wastewater. The chloride concentration is higher in wastewater than in raw water because sodium chloride is a common article of diet and passes unchanged through the digestive system (Average estimate of excretion: 6 g of chlorides/person/day; additional chloride burden due to human consumption on wastewater: 15 mg/L). Along the sea coast chloride may be present in high concentration because of leakage of salt water into the sewage system. It also may be increased by industrial process. In potable water, the salty taste produced by chloride concentration is variable and depends on the chemical composition of water. Some waters containing 250 mg/L Cl- may have a detectable salty taste if sodium cation is present. On the other hand, the typical salty taste may be absent in waters containing as much as 1000 mg/L when the predominant cations are calcium and magnesium. In addition, a high chloride contents may harm metallic pipes and structures as well as growing plants. The measured chloride ions can be used to know salinity of different water sources. Principle If water containing chlorides is titrated with silver nitrate solution, chlorides are precipitated as white silver chloride. Potassium chromate is used as indicator, which supplies chromate ions. As the concentration of chloride ions approaches extinction, silver ion concentration increases to a level at which reddish brown precipitate of silver chromate is formed indicating the end point.

AgNO3 Cl 2 AgNO3
Apparatus 1. Burette 2. Pipettes 3. Erlenmeyer flasks 4. Measuring cylinder Reagents 1. Chloride free distilled water. 2. Standard silver nitrate solution (0.0141N) 3. Potassium chromate indicator. 4. Acid or alkali for adjusting pH.

AgCl

NO3 Ag 2CrO4 2 KNO3

K 2CrO4

Procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Take 50 ml of sample in conical flask and add 50 ml of distilled water. Check whether the pH of sample is 7-10. If not so adjust it by H2SO4 or NaOH. Add 1 ml K2CrO4 indicator. Titrate it against 0.0141 N AgNO3 till yellowish solution turns red. Note the volume of AgNO3 consumed Do the above steps for blank.

Observations Water sample vs Silver nitrate (0.0141 N) (Potassium chromate indicator Trial No. Volume of Burette reading Sample Initial Final

Sample Description

Volume of silver nitrate used (mL)

Distilled water

Calculation: mg/L in terms of Cl- (Chloride ion)=

( A B) N 35450 mL of sample

where A= mL of AgNO3 consumed for the sample B= ml of AgNO3 consumed for blank N= normality of AgNO3 Results Chloride concentration in mg/L for the given sample (_______________) = Discussions