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Buffer cultivation
Menna Ahmed – Merna Wael – Malak Mohamed – Mai Mansour
Sharkia STEM School / Grade 11 – Semester 1 / 2020-2021
Key words: Reuse, pH , Glacial Acetic Acid , buffer solution ,& Henderson-Hasselbalch’s equation

Abstract Methods
Firstly, we chopped the wood into small pieces, at the same time we put water to boil to make the wood
.softer in order to remove the excess wood we don’t need
For many decades, Egypt has been suffering from significant obstacles in its way of developing, and
these challenges reduce its status among nations and affect its future generations. Two of the most When the water boiled, we have put the chopped wood into the boiling hot
important health and environmental problems that have become a real threat for people lives are water and wait a few minutes. Then, we remove the wood
pollution and the lack of clean water sources. Pollution and specifically Water pollution occurs when from the water by using the pincers
harmful substances contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, or aquifer degrading water quality and .and remove the outer layer of the wood with the cutter
rendering it toxic to humans or the environment causing food chain disruption as it can wipe out an
On the other hand, we have put 40g of potassium hydroxide pellets (KOH)
entire part of the food chain. Regarding water sources, contaminated water and poor sanitation are
in a beaker then poured 100 ml of water and stirred to make Figure
a solution
(1) of
linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, and typhoid. We decided to specify our
40% by mass and left it for a few minutes. We observed that heat is being
consideration on Paper factories exceptionally the very initial process of digesting raw wood that can
produced from the solution as a result of the chemical
use up to 17,000 gallons of water for each ton of wood. During the digestion process a strong base
reaction. between (H2O) and (KOH).
should be used (KOH) in order to create the pulp by separating the cellulose fibers which are stuck
Next, we put the wood into the solution.
together with a natural glue called "lignin” and as a matter of course after separation the base
Then, we put the solution to boil as by increasing the temperature the
material have got to be rinsed out which for sure would result in water amounts of high pH rates rate of reaction increases, and it consumes less time and left it for an
(ranging in basic rates). We modified this process by inserting appropriate amounts of weak acid Figure (2)
hour to boil in order to digest wood
(glacial acetic acid) and its conjugate base (potassium acetate) to the water the wood have to be .and break it into fibers
rinsed with to prepare a buffer solution; in order to neutralize the alkalinity of water and lowers the , this solution is acidic. If the solution has a pH between 8 to 14, so this
pH rates to be ranging between 6 and 7; so that these enormous amounts of water can be reused in After an hour, we remove the wood from the solution and pinch it with
irrigating wheat, rice, fenugreek, and many other crops. And by applying a sample of 1 ml of acetic pincers to break the wood into smaller pieces then we put the wood back
acid (99% concentrated), and 96.5 g of potassium acetate, we succeeded in our results reducing the into the solution and repeat the same process 3 times. The last time we
alkalinity rate to 6.5 from 13.11 and the TDS rate ended with 278.64 ppm verifying the neutral soak and leave the wood in the solution for a whole night to react
. and digest it more Figure (3)
.impacts on environment, efficiency, and high water quality
After that, we rinsed the wood from the basic solution with the buffer
Analysis Learning transfer
Connection Subject
The paper-making process is a long process that can not be done without making the pulp. Making the pulp
consumes thousands of gallons of water daily in order to make one ton of paper. As to accomplish our design   We studied in this learning outcome different ways to use water in :)LO3( Geology
requirements we worked on some features that make our solution more efficient without harming the quality our life. Most of the water demand is used in the irrigation,
of the paper. Thus, we succeeded in solving the problem from the results that we get from the test plan from .thermodynamics and industry
our prototype depending on the equations and chemical principles that we followed. Our main goal was to We learned about the different kinds of pollutants. There are two :)LO4(
decrease the pH (presence of hydrogen) and the TDS (Total dissolved solids) found in the wastewater of the main types of pollutants: organic for example sewage, livestock wastes
paper industry from the pulping process. We depended on scientific principle in order to achieve this goal. We and pathogenic microorganisms, and non-organic such as nutrients in
worked on making paper pulp from wood. The first principle we followed, was increasing the surface area of .fertilizers, waste heat and industrial chemicals
the wood pieces by chopping it in order to increase the rate of the digestion process. As the surface area
Chemistry
.increases, the collision between the wood molecules increases, and the rate of the reaction increases We learned about the three types of the colligative properties :)LO2(
The digestion process is the process of converting the wood into paper pulp. The digestion process depended -Elevation of boiling point. – Depression of freezing point. -Osmotic
mainly on separating the wood fiber (cellulose) from the other components of the wood by boiling the wood in .pressure. And how to use them to compare between solutions
a strong basic solution (KOH +H2O KO + H3O) . We used 40 g of potassium hydroxide in 100ml of water One of the important features of the water is the pH and how to :)LO3(
calculate it. pH is the measuring the acidity or the alkalinity of the solution.
making a basic solution with concentration 5.998 M KOH to digest 35 g collected after cutting a piece of
,wood The pH is ranged from 0 to 14. If the solution has a PH between 0 to 6, so
,as the molarity = , where, the moles of KOH = ,pOH= -log[5.998] .solution is basic
and pH= 14-pOH = 14.778 is the most common pH of the wastewater from
. the digestion process, which is extremely high We studied facts and speculation and we have studied how to distinguish among English
facts and speculation We also learned how to write academic essays which was
The selection of potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the base used in the .helpful in writing the poster and the portfolio
digestion process is that potassium hydroxide is one of the strongest bases
We have learned about the different types of the data bases and how we can use it to Computer

Introduction
that ionize
. solution completely in the water as the ionization increases the effect on .analyze our results science
Table (6)
At the end, we utilized the used water while rinsing the wood in irrigating as the wood increases, so the separation of cellulose from lignin increases. We studied exponential and logarithmic functions and we used them to graph the Math

Conclusion
it is suitable for all kinds of crops according to the world irrigation guidelines. Cellulose and lignin are the two main components of the wood where, Graph (2) .result of our test plan in the form of exponential graph

Test plan
Pollution fouling our world especially water and degrading water sources are considered as the main . We chose the fenugreek plant as it grows fast . cellulose is the fiber of the wood that is used in making the paper
Figure (4)
major barriers that prevent Egypt from conquering the top stone of civilizational pyramid. Lack of We chose to prepare the strong basic solution using KOH pellets instead of NaOH, as NaOH would produce
.All the following trials are followed by the safety precautions too much ions than KOH would have produce and this may affect the quality of paper in one way or another,
controlling the water pollution, and unequal water distribution are major issues that must be solved to After researching the problem of factories’ water pollution, due to its spreadness to different types of
take Egypt away from the risk of aridity, and water absence through years. The water they say is life :First test plan .furthermore, it would need more water amounts to be rinsed out from NaOH completely diseases in the countryside that affect different types of water sources. So, according to this problem,
and indeed they were right. However, a closer inspection of our water resources today gives us a We did not chop the wood into small pieces and that consumed materials, water The second principle we followed, was increasing the temperature in the digestion process while stirring to we started choosing a system that would help factories reuse the wastewater and after all the previous
terrible shock. Water is now infested with various wastes ranging from floating plastic bags to and time. When the surface area is larger the reaction speeds up and it increase the collision between the solution molecules and the wood molecules. The wood is converted into materials and methods, results, and analyzing it, we can finally conclude that our prototype has
.chemical wastes converting our water bodies into a pool of poisons consumes less time. We used the same quantity of potassium hydroxide (KOH) .paper pulp faster passed all the tests that were put and met the design requirements whether the project is safe because
By intensification efforts on previously tried solutions for these challenges we found in one of the fiber in each test plan which are 40 g in 100 ml of water to make aFigure
solution
(5)
Rinsing the paper pulp with a buffer solution. the buffer solution is an aqueous solution, made of a week acid, all the materials which we used do not contain any harmful substances, the cost is meager, and it does
factories, an experiment that was implemented to reuse the unused condensed water from of 40% by mass. The acetic buffer was of 1ml acetic acid & 96.5g of potassium we used acetic acid (CH3COOH), and its conjugate base in a form of salt, we used potassium acetate not pollute the environment. The project is very profitable Because it can neutralize acids and
air conditioning units in Boiler purposes. Wastewater
The boilersources requires .acetate Bases in large quantities of water in factories. Our project depends on buffer solution addition to the
in Egypt (CH3COOK). We chose acetic acid as our neutralizer for its weak ability to completely dissociate, high
impurities free water. But, natural water supplies contain solid, 0.9
liquid and
Industrial production and
:Second test plan water as it enters the industry. At first, we replace the chemicals used in softening wood and
commercial service
1.4 8.2
efficiency, and because it barely has no negative environmental impacts. The weak ability of acetic acid to be using Bases to become less expensive, and at the end, we neutralize the pH in the water by preparing
gaseous impurities that causes precipitation of solid residue, formation of a hard
Municipal waste treatment
2.1
and diposal
3.9
Oil industry
This time we chopped the wood into smaller pieces which took less time and dissociated in water and producing small portions of ions maintains the quality of the paper without being amount of acetic buffer to equalize the water to make it suitable for use in agriculture purposes.
scale on the wall surface, corrosion, and embrittlement caustic. 5.4
And 41.4
Industrial waste treatment

effort. We put the 40% concentrated solution by mass of KOH .negatively affected
and diposal

Recommendations
7.3
condensed water is appropriate for these purposes as it reduced the
Storage
Power plants
Figure (6)
Transport spills on land
14.1 and this time :The dissociation reaction
corrosion rate, prevents the formation of foaming and priming, and Mining
Military 15.2
we changed the quantity of the
finally avoids embrittlement caustic. Regarding paper industry we Others
Pie chart (1) -
CH3COOH+H2O H3O+ + CH3COO
.glacial acetic acid to 1.4ml added to 53.80g of potassium acetate
found a project that emphasizes on the use of chlorine dioxide in place of elemental chlorine and
:Third test plan CH3COOK+H2O CH3COOH + KOH Recommendations are one of the essential parts of any poster. So, in our projects, Our offers for people
hypochlorite during bleaching with aim of reducing the wastewater load and improving the pulp same quantity of KOH, water and grams of wood. We changed the :who would follow our footsteps in the future are
quality. Total replacement of elemental chlorine with chlorine dioxide reduced the lignin (57%) and Wequantities
made one oflast test plan
glacial to acid,
acetic get the average
and resultacetate
potassium of the once
pH. We used
again as the ,The Base (KOH) is added due to rinsing the pulp from the digestion process
proved its success significantly in reducing wastewater load, thus these enormous water amounts can Graph (3) Developing our project by placing a wood splitter directly into the process to facilitates wood -
.they affect on the pH (1.2 ml ,and 91.99 g) Figure (7)
CH3COOH+ KOH CH3COO +H2O -
.be reused in the same factory and save over millions of water gallons yearly interaction with the base.

Results
According to this reaction, the acetic acid (CH3COOH) will neutralize the added amount of potassium -Increase the temperature while digesting wood as much as possible to increase the rate of the reaction.
And we chose to stop this disaster starting from paper factories beginning from the very initial
hydroxide (CH3COOK). Leading the equilibrium to shift to the right, the concentration of the acetate ion -Work on using the water produced by industry to irrigate crops that need large quantities of water,
process once the trees have been stripped of their bark and made into wood chips, they are boiled in a
.such as rice
watery-basic solution and turned into a pulpy soup where the lignin is removed and the cellulose (CH3COO- ) increases in the solution while the acetic acid’s concentration decreases slightly. Since most of the
fibres are separated, and reorganized; hence paper can be made. Our solution is to qualify the water As illustrated in test plan section three different trials were applied among pH and TDS rates. The .potassium hydroxide neutralize, only a very little change will occur to the pH of the buffer solution
used in this process to be reused in irrigation by rinsing the digested wood with an aqueous buffer
solution, thus it’s capable for being reused in irrigation. Firstly, we digest wood by boiling it in KOH
solution 40% concentrated by mass, after that it should be rinsed out with the a solution of acetic
recorded results for each test are as the Measuring
following:
Error
% 11.34
pH

9.5
TDS (in ppm) Negative
Result
578.33 Test plan 1
We calculated the amount of potassium acetate needed to be added to achieve
our desired pH which is 6.5 by determining the ratio of
Literature cited (APA citation)
In the three successful trials we applied same concentrations of the Basics of Paper Manufacturing - Oklahoma State University. (n.d.). Retrieved January 04, 2021, from
buffer to result in satisfying water parameter readings (278.64 ppm and 6.5 pH) able to be reused in 10.6% 9.1 543.26 Test plan 2
quantities of wood (35 g) and water (350 L), potassium acetate (CH3COOK) and acetic acid (CH₃COOH) using Henderson https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/basics-of-paper-manufacturing.html
. irrigation of all crops according to the world’s irrigation guidelines Table (3): Negative Results of the project.
but with different acetic buffer solution -Hasselbalch equation: pH= pKa + log (. Since the pKa of acetic acid= 4.75 U. (1955, September 10). Water requirements of the pulp and paper industry. Retrieved from

Materials
concentrations to observe the change in pH 3 2 1 No. of trial https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/1330a/report.pdf
so, 6.5= 4.75 + log (), log()=1.75, so, =56.23 which, represents the ratio Ruberg, A. (n.d.). Water Use. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from
:and we documented them as follows g 35 g 35 g 35 Wood of concentrations of the potassium acetate (CH3COOK) and aceticGraph acid (4) http://www.mntap.umn.edu/industries/facility/paper/water/
:The first trial ml 1.2 ml 1.4 ml 1 Acetic Acid (CH₃COOH). By intensifying the search on paper factories’ water usage Potassium hydroxide. (n.d.). Retrieved January 01, 2021, from
It ended up with a pH of 6.5 and TDS of 278.64 ppm L 350 L 350 L 350 Water https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Potassium-hydroxide
Name Wood chips Glacial acetic Potassium Potassium Fenugreek reports, we found that the average amount of water used was 2,650 gallons
due to applying acetic buffer of 1 ml acetic acid (99% Doles, W., Wilkerson, G., Morrison, S., & Richmond, R. (2015, April). Glacial Acetic Acid Adverse Events: Case
acid Hydroxide acetate seeds 91.99g g 53.80 96.5g potassium acetate of water per one ton of wood, which is nearly 10 L of water per
concentrated) and 96.5 g of potassium acetate. Reports and Review of the Literature. Retrieved December 30, 2020, from
.gram of wood. By applying a sample of 35 g of wood, 350 L of water
pH ratesshould
among thebe used
three trials
:The second trial .Table (4): Trials of the project 6.9 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589881/
Cost 5 L.E 7 L.E 5 L.E 18 L.E 5 L.E By using 1 mL of acetic acid (CH3COOH) which has 0.017485 moles so, 6.8
Fenugreek: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions and Dosage. (2019, April 16). Retrieved April 16, 2019, from
After preparing a buffer solution of 1.4 ml of acetic No. of trial 1 2 3 6.7

Molarity of CH 3COOH in the solution= = 4.9957×10 M. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-733/fenugreek

Picture acid and 53.80 g of potassium acetate we observed pH 6.5 6.1 6.4
6.6
6.5
-5

that the pH was 6.1 and the TDS was 157.89 ppm. According to the ratio (molarity of CH3COOK6.4÷ (4.9957×10-5))) = 56.23
Acknowledgments & for further Information
TDS (in ppm) 278.64 157.89 266.36
:The third trial
6.3
. so, molarity 6.2
of CH3COOK = 2.8091×10-3 M
It resulted in a pH of 6.4 and TDS of 266.36 ppm due Table (5): pH and TDS rates. 6.1

Table (1): Materials of the project. Total cost = 40 L.E to applying acetic buffer of 1.2 ml acetic acid and
1.4
1.3
M so, moles of CH3COOK= 0.9832 10-3×2.8091 = 6
PH 1 PH 2 PH 3

First and foremost, we give all thanks and gratitude to Allah, the Magnificent and the Generous. Great
Name 2 Beakers Digital Dropper Cutter Glass Saw Pincers 91.99 g of potassium acetate. 1.2
1.1 Moles= = 0.9832 so, the grams of potassium acetate (CH3COOK) = 96.5 g.
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3

balance rode 1 Chart (1) :thanks to all STEM Egypt staff for helping and supporting us especially
=The average pH 0.9
Dr. Naglaa Meghawry - Mr. Emad Ghaly-
Picture
  0.8
0.7
6.6 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.1
: The total dissolved solids (TDS) is calculated by ”Mr. Mohamed Monir “The Capstone Leader” - Mr. Mohamed Ali “Our Chemistry Teacher -
=The average TDS TDS = 106 = ×106 =278.64 ppm. According to world’s irrigation guidelines, the total dissolved solids (TDS)
  Column2
.Graph (1): Results of Acetic Acid on pH For further information
The efficiency of pH = × 100 % = 110%   rate which is less that 300 ppm is suitable for irrigation of all types of crops, so .
.wastewater can be reused in irrigation of highly consumed crops like rice and .
the after our solution, the
.wheat Please contact us at
Malak Mohamed Hassan malak.2219152@stemsharkya.moe.edu.eg 01020267684
Mai Mansour Mai.2219163@stemsharkya.moe.edu.eg 01063217910
% The efficiency of TDS = × 100 % × 100 % 72.64
.

.Table (2): Tools of the project Total cost is 0 (all tools are available at
school).   Menna Ahmed Abd El Zaheer
Merna Wael Soliman
menah.2219159@stemsharkya.moe.edu.eg
merna.2219164@stemsharkya.moe.edu.eg
01062678947
01067773447