Exp-4 Date-

ADSORPTION OF ACETIC ACID ON ACTIVATED

CHARCOAL
Theory:
Surface of any solid or liquid is in a state of strain due to unsaturated force. To lower this strain they
try to adsorb foreign particles on the surface. Extent of adsorption depends on (a) nature of adsorbent
and adsorbate, (b) nature of surface, (c) temperature and (d) concentration of adsorbate. For a given
pair of adsorbent and adsorbate and at a given temperature relation between extent of adsorption and
x 1
concentration is called adsorption isotherm. Freundlich's empirical equation is  KC n
m
Here 'x' is the amount of adsorbate adsorbed by `m g of adsorbent; 'C' is the concentration of
adsorbate and 'K' and 'n' are constants with .Taking logarithm of both sides-
x 1
log  log K  log C
m n

Hence, plot of log x/m against log C will be a straight line.

Procedure:

A) Standardization of the NaOH solution

At first NaOH solution is taken in a burette. Now 25 ml of the standard Oxalic Acid solution
(0.1N) is pipetted out in a conical flask, 25 ml distilled water and 1-2 drops of
Phenolphthalein indicator is added to it. Then the solution is titrated with the NaOH solution
until a light pink colour appeared. The titration is repeated to get concordant values.

B) Adsorption of Acetic Acid on Activated Charcoal

i. 3 stoppered bottles are taken and clean and dry them.

ii. In those 3 labelled stoppered bottles, the following mixture are prepared (as given below) so as
to make total volume in each bottle as 60ml.

Bottle number 1 2 3

Volume of 0.6 M CH3COOH(ml) 60 50 40

Volume of distilled water(ml) 0 10 20

iii. 2 grams of powdered charcoal are added to each bottle, stoppered, shaken well and let them
stand for 45min with intermittent shaking.
iv. The content of bottle 1 is filtered into a conical flask. Then 10ml of the filtrate is taken into a
100ml conical flask and titrated this against N/10(approx.) NaOH solution using
 phenolphthalein as indicator. At the end point, the solution will turn pink. It was repeated to get
concordant value.
v. The above process was repeated with contents of other bottles.

Observation:
o
Room temp = C

(i) Table 1: Standardization of NaOH solution

Burette Reading
Volume of Volume of Mean Volume of
No. of (ml)
Standard Oxalic NaOH Solution NaOH Solution
Titration
Acid solution (ml) Initial Final (ml) VNaOH (ml)

Table 2: Titration of Acetic acid

Weight of activated charcoal in each bottle= 2g

Volume of acetic acid solutions for each titration= 5ml

Bottle Burette reading Volume of standard NaOH Mean value

number Initial Final Solution used(ml) (ml)

1 V1

2 V2

3 V3

Table 3: Adsorption of Acetic Acid by charcoal

Initial conc of Concentration Amount of Weight

Bottle acetic acid of acetic acid acetic acid of the
x/m log(x/m) log C
no after adsorbed adsorbent
Ci adsorption(C) (x) (m)

1 0.6 M1 x1 2
 2 0.6*50/60=0.5 M2 x2 2

3 0.4 M3 x3 2

Calculations:

i) Standardization of NaOH solution:

Strength of Oxalic acid solution = 0.1 (N)

Volume of NaOH solution = V ml
25  0.1
 Strength of NaOH solution, S1 = V ( N)

ii) Adsorption of Acetic Acid 0n Activated Charcoal:

i) Bottle no 1:

Initial conc. of CH3COOH = 0.6 (M)

Let, conc. of CH3COOH after adsorption =M1

As 5ml of M1 CH3COOH=V1ml of S1(M) NaOH

V1 S1
So, M1 
5

Thus change in conc of acetic acid (in moles/lit)= (0.6-M 1) M

Then change in concentration ( in gms per 60ml of the solution) in Bottle no.1

= = x1

ii) Bottle no 2:

0.6  50
Initial conc. of CH3COOH = (M) = 0.5(M)
60

Let, conc. of CH3COOH after adsorption =M2

As 5ml of M2 CH3COOH=V2ml of S1(M) NaOH

V 2  S1
So, , M2 =
5

Thus change in conc of acetic acid (in moles/lit)= (0.5-M 2) M

Then change in concentration ( in gms per 60ml of the solution) in Bottle no.2
= = x2

ii) Bottle no 3:

0.6  40
Initial conc. of CH3COOH = (M) = 0.4(M)
60

Let, conc. of CH3COOH after adsorption =M3

As 5ml of M3 CH3COOH=V3 ml of S1(M) NaOH

V3  S1
So, M3 =
5

Thus change in conc of acetic acid (in moles/lit)= (0.4-M 3) M

Then change in concentration ( in gms per 60ml of the solution) in Bottle no.3

= = x3

Conclusion:

Then a graph is plotted taking ‘log x/m’ in Y axis and ‘log C’ in X axis. A straight line is

found that prove the validity of the Frenudlich isotherm. From the Y intercept ‘log K’ is

found and from the slope of the line the value of ‘n’ is determined.

Thus, log K = and n=