QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

PART - A

1. Define hard water and soft water.

Water which does not produce lather with soap solution but forms a white precipitate is
called hard water. Water which lathers easily with soap solution is called soft water.

2. Give a chemical test to detect hardness of water.

Hardness can be detected by treating water with soap as hard water forms a white precipitate
with soap solution .

3. Why does hard water consume a lot of soap?

Hard water contains soluble salts of calcium and magnesium. When hard water is used for
washing and bathing , it does not lather freely with soap, but produces sticky precipitates. The
formation of such insoluble precipitates consumes soap, till hardness is completely
precipitated. Hence, this causes wastage of a lot of soap.

4. What is hardness of water?

Hardness is the property of water which does not produce lather with soap.

5. Mention the units used for expressing hardness of water

Parts per million, milligrams per litre, Clarke’s degree, French degree

6. Define any two units of hardness.

ppm:

It is defined as the number of parts of Calcium carbonate equivalent hardness per million
(106) parts of water.

Clarke’s degree:

It is defined as the number of parts of Calcium carbonate equivalent hardness per 70,000
parts of water.

7. How will you remove temporary hardness?

This is due to the presence of bicarbonates of calcium and magnesium . Temporary hardness
can be removed by

a) Boiling the water

Ca(HCO3)2 → CaCO3 + H2O +CO2

b) Adding lime to the water.

Mg(HCO3)2 + 2Ca(OH)2 → Mg(OH)2 + 2CaCO3+ 2H2O
8. How will you remove permanent hardness?

This is due to the presence of chlorides and sulphates of calcium and magnesium. Permanent
hardness can be removed by

a) Lime – soda process

CaCl2 + Na2CO3 → CaCO3 + 2NaCl
b) Zeolite process.
CaSO4 + Na2Ze → CaZe + Na2SO4

9. Why is CaCO3 chosen as standard to express the hardness of water?

1) Molecular weight of CaCO3 is 100, equivalent weight of CaCO3 is 50. Both are
whole numbers. So it is easy for calculation.

2) CaCO3 is highly insoluble in water. So it is easy for precipitation.

10. What are the requirements of boiler feed water?

Boiler water must be free from hardness causing substances, dissolved gases ,oil, silica etc

11. What are the problems encountered in boiler feed water?

(i)Scale and sludge formation,

(ii)Boiler corrosion

(iii)Caustic embrittlement

(iv)Carry over

12. Distinguish sludge from scale

N Sludge Scale
o

1 It is a soft, loose and slimy precipitate It is a hard and adherent coating formed on
floating on the surface of water. the inner walls of the boiler.

2. The main sludge forming substances The main scale forming substances are
are MgCO3,MgCl2 CaSO4,SiO2, MgSO4

13. Why should natural water not to be fed into boiler?

Natural water contains hardness due to the presence of soluble calcium and magnesium salt in
it. If natural water is directly fed to boiler, the hardness causing salts get precipitated in the
form of scale and sludge inside the boiler. Moreover, hardness also causes priming and
foaming in the boiler. Hence, in order to avoid these boiler problems, natural water should
not be fed to boiler, rather it should be properly softened before using in boiler

14. What is caustic embrittlement? How is it prevented?

Caustic embrittlement is a type of electrochemical corrosion which occurs in high

pressure boilers when water containing Na2CO3 is used

Na2CO3+H2O→2NaOH+CO2

The NaOH so produced flows into minute irregular inter granular cracks and dissolves the
surrounding area of iron as sodium ferrate. It can be prevented by

1. Using sodium phosphate as softening agent instead of Na2CO3

2. Adding chemicals such as tannin, lignin to the boiler.

15. What is meant by priming and foaming? What are their effects in boilers?

Priming: The formation of wet steam by rapid boiling of water at the heating surfaces in
boilers.

Foaming: The formation of stable bubbles above the surfaces of water and lead to excessive
priming.

Disadvantages:

1. Reduces boiler efficiency.

2. Maintenance of boiler pressure is very difficult.

16. What is external treatment of water?

It involves the removal of scale and sludge forming impurities from the water before
feeding to the boiler.

17. Every soft water is not demineralised water where as every demineralised water is
a soft water. Justify.

Softening involves removal of only hardness causing ions where as demineralization

involves the removal of all ions present in water. Hence the above statement is justified.

18. What is calgon conditioning?

Calgon is sodium hexa meta phosphate Na2 [Na4 (PO3)6]. Calgon interacts with calcium
ions of water forming a highly soluble complex and thus prevents the precipitation of scale
forming salt.

2CaSO4+Na2 [Na4 (PO3)6] →Na2 [Ca2(PO3)6]+2Na2SO4

19. What is Carbonate conditioning?

Scale formation can be prevented by adding Na2CO3 to the boiler water. Any scale
forming salt like CaSO4 present in the water is precipitated in the form of insoluble CaCO3 by
the addition of Na2CO3.

CaSO4+ Na2CO3→Na2SO4+CaCO3↓

20. What is phosphate conditioning?

The formation of scale is prevented by adding sodium phosphate in the form of

Na3PO4, Na2HPO4. The added phosphate reacts with calcium and magnesium salts forming
non-adherent and soft sludge which can be removed by blow down operation. This process is
suitable for high pressure boilers.

21. What is meant by break point chlorination?

The process of adding chlorine to kill bacteria and to oxidize the organic impurities
present in water and the point at which the residual chlorine increases is called break point
chlorination.

22. What are the advantages of break point chlorination?

1. It oxidizes completely organic matter, ammonia and reducing agents

2. It removes colour in water.

3. It removes odour from water

4. It destroys completely all the disease producing bacteria.

PART-B

1. How will you estimate hardness of water by EDTA method?

2. Water is a universal solvent-substantiate.

3. 0.25g of CaCO3 was dissolved in dil. HCl and diluted to250ml. 100ml of this solution
required 20ml of EDTA solution for titration. 100ml of a hard water sample required
30ml of the same EDTA solution for titration .100ml of the same water sample on
boiling, filtering, required10ml of EDTA. Calculate the total permanent and
temporary hardness.
4. Explain the process of demineralization of water using ion-exchange resins.
5. Write notes on
(i) Caustic embrittlement
(ii) Scales and sludges.
6. Discuss the various stages of domestic water treatment.
7. What is meant by internal conditioning? Explain three conditioning methods.
8. Explain how the sterilization of water carried out. Give the mechanism.
9. What are boiler troubles? How are they caused? Suggest the steps to minimize the
boiler troubles.
10. How desalination is carried out by reverse osmosis?