Aim: To study the adsorption of a solute (Oxalic acid) by activated charcoal from an aqueous

solution.
Apparatus: Stoppered Bottle, Measuring Cylinder, Filter Paper, Weighing Balance etc.
Theory: Adsorption is accumulation of a substance at an interface. The adsorption of a solute from a
solution generally follows the Freundlich empirical adsorption isotherm given by
𝐱
= 𝐊𝑪𝒆 𝟏/𝐧
𝐦
Where 𝐱 = weight of adsorbate (oxalic acid), 𝐦 = mass of adsorbent (activated charcoal), 𝐊 =
constant representing the capacity of the adsorbent, and C = equilibrium concentration of the solution.
Procedure: Standardize the NaOH solution using std. oxalic acid solution (1N stock solution).
Prepare 100 ml of oxalic acid solution of the required concentration from the stock solution.
Standardize the prepared solution using std. NaOH solution. Weigh out accurately 1g of activated
charcoal. Transfer this into a 250 ml well cleaned dry stoppered bottle. Then add 50 ml of the diluted
std. oxalic acid solution to the bottle. Shake the mixture intermittently for about one hour. After
equilibrium is reached, filter the solution. Pipette out 10 ml of the filtrate and titrate it against NaOH
using phenolphthalein as indicator. Repeat the above procedure for different concentrations of oxalic
acid.
Observations & Calculation:
Concentration before adsorption (𝑪) of original solution, concentration of solution after
equilibrium(𝑪𝒆 ), the weight of oxalic acid per gram of the adsorbent (𝐱⁄𝐦) is calculated as follows.
𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎𝑂𝐻 𝑋 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑑(𝑚𝑜𝑙 ⁄𝑙𝑖𝑡) =
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒
x (𝐶 − 𝐶𝑒 )𝑋 60
=
m 10
Volume of Concentration of
Volume of NaOH (ml) 𝐱 𝐱
Sr. No. Oxalic oxalic acid 𝐥𝐨𝐠 [ ] 𝐥𝐨𝐠(𝐂𝐞 )
Burette Reading 𝐦 𝐦
acid (ml) mol/lit
Before After
Before After
(𝐂) (𝐂𝐞 )
1 10
2 20
3 30
4 40
5 50
6 60
7 70
Draw a graph of 𝐥𝐨𝐠[𝒙⁄𝒎] vs. 𝐥𝐨𝐠[𝑪𝒆 ] and calculate the constant 1/𝒏 and 𝐊 using the equation.
𝑥 1
𝑙𝑜𝑔 [ ] = log 𝐾 + log[𝐶𝑒 ]
𝑚 𝑛
Result: 1) Adsorption capacity of charcoal (𝐊) =
2) The intensity of adsorption is (1/𝒏) =