The Measurement of Citric Acid in Soft Drinks using Volumetric Analysis

Citric acid is an almost odourless white crystalline powder which is used in soft
drinks to give them a characteristic citrus flavour. However if too much citric acid is
ingested it can cause erosion of the teeth, and can be very irritating to the stomach!
Citric acid crystals are also used to remove the fur from electric kettles. The
compound when diluted in water is also used as a disinfectant on farms. As shown
in the equation below citric acid reacts in a very precise way with sodium hydroxide
solution. This reaction can be used to work out how much citric acid may be present
in soft drinks. Today you will be using a titration procedure to help you work out how
citric acid is in lime juice, and orange squash.

CH2COOH CH2COO-Na+

HO C COOH + 3NaOH HO C COO -Na+ + 3H2O

CH2COOH 3 mole 3 mole

CH2COO-Na+
1 mole 1 mole

If we know how much sodium hydroxide has reacted with the soft drink, we can use
this information to work out exactly how much citric acid is in the drink.

Key words: Citric acid, erosion, disinfectant, titration, mole

Procedure
1. Using a volumetric pipette, transfer 5 cm3 of lime juice to a conical flask. You will
be shown how to do this.
2. Using a measuring cylinder add 15 cm3 of distilled water to the flask.
3. Using a dropper add 5 drops of phenolphthalein indicator to the flask.
4. With the aid of plastic funnel fill the burette with sodium hydroxide solution. Make
sure that the initial volume is not on zero, and make a note of this volume.
5. Slowly start adding the sodium hydroxide solution from the burette to the conical
flask making sure that the sample is continually swirled to ensure mixing of the
different solutions. Continue doing this until you see a pink coloration (the end
point) form in the flask.
6. Record the volume of sodium hydroxide that was added.
7. Repeat the procedure (steps 1 to 6) until you get two volumes that agree very
closely with each other.

The above procedure is then repeated using orange squash.

1. Using a volumetric pipette, transfer 10 cm3 of orange squash to a conical flask.
2. Using a measuring cylinder add 15 cm3 of distilled water to the flask.
3. Using a dropper add 5 drops of phenolphthalein indicator to the flask.
4. As in the lime juice experiment, slowly add sodium hydroxide solution from the
burette until you get to the end point (pink coloration).
5. Record the volume of sodium hydroxide that was added.
6. Repeat the steps until you get two volumes that agree very closely with each
other.

Results Lime Juice

Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4

Final burette
reading / cm3

Initial burette
reading / cm3

Volume of
NaOH used /
cm3
Mean volume of NaOH used

Results Orange Juice

Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4

Final burette
reading / cm3

Initial burette
reading / cm3

Volume of
NaOH used /
cm3
Mean volume of NaOH used

You will be shown to how to work out the amount of citric acid in each drink

Extension Questions
1. Compare your results with other groups. Why do you think they are different from
yours?
2. Why do we use distilled water and not tap water to dilute the drinks before we
carry out the titrations?
3. Which of the two drinks contains the greater amount of citric acid?
4. What other substances might you find in lime juice and orange squash?