QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SODA ASH BY DOUBLE-INDICATOR
TITRATION
J.B. NACOMEL
DEPARTMENT OF MINING, METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, DILIMAN QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
DATE PERFORMED: SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
INSTRUCTORS NAME: SEARLE AICHELLE DUAY
1. Discuss why is there a need to boil
distilled water in preparation of base
solutions.
The distilled water was boiled so that any
dissolved carbon dioxide(CO2) in water may be
removed. The dissolved CO2 needs to be
removed so that it wouldnt react with the
hyrdroxide(OH-) ions of the base which would
form a product of CO32-
2. Discuss why a mixture of NaOH and
NaHCO3 is incompatible.
A mixture of NaOH and NaHCO 3 is
incompatible because when this happens, a
chemical reaction will occur, producing a
mixture of NaCO3 and the excess reagent.
3. Discuss why there is a need to boil the
solution before reaching the methyl orange
endpoint.
The solution was boiled so that the
alkalinity of the solution would be restored by
removing the carbonic acid. This will cause a
sharper change in pH and a more prominent
color change.
4. Discuss the basic components of the
unknown soda ash sample based on the
volume relationship at the phenolphthalein
and methyl orange endpoints.
The unknown components of the soda ash
Na2CO3 and NaHCO3. The CO32- and the HCO3-
ions have different pH levels that falls under
the range of the pH of the phenolphthaleina
and the methyl orange pH levels. The greater
the volume needed to reach the endpoint of the
indicator means that the component which falls
under that indicator has a higher number of
ions.
5. Discuss the possibility of using NaOH as
primary standard for HCl and the
properties of an ideal primary standard.
It is not possible to use NaOH as a primary
standard. A primary standard needs to be of
high purity. NaOH does no have high purity and
there is also a possibility that the NaOH
concentration may change over time because of
reacting with the atmosphere.
6. Discuss the rationale behind not storing
basic solutions in volumetric glassware.
Basic solutions could not be stored in glass
container because reactions such as the
formation of sodium silicates may occur. The
sodium silicates will build up and the stopper
might be stucked and hard to remove. This
would also cause the concentration of the
solution to decrease due to the reaction
7. Discuss the possible sources of errors and
their effect on calculated parameters.
The double-indicator titration is
unrealiable at low concentrations of carbonate.
8. Discuss the cause of carbonate error and
its effect on the calculate values obtained in
standardization and sample analysis.
The carbonate error is an error in titration
in which the concentration of the basic solution
is reduced due to dissolved carbon dioxide,
thus forming carbonate ions. When the
phenolphthalein was added, carbonate ions
react with hydroniums ions lowering the
concentration of the solution. The presence of
carbonate ions before titration also decreases
the sharpness of the endpoint, making the color
change less prominent.
1
REFERENCES

[1] Skoog, D.A., West, D.M., Holler, F.J., Crouch,

S.R. Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry 9th
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2014.
[2] Jeffery G. H., Bassett J., Mendham J., Denney,
R.C. Vogels Textbook of Quantitative Chemical
Analaysis. John Wiley & Sons Inc. New York.
1978.
[3] Harris, D.C. Quantitative Chemical Analysis
7th ed. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York.
2007
[4] Schroeder, W.C. Errors in the Determination of
Carbonate in Boiler Water. Ind. Eng. Anal. Chem.
Ed. [Online] 1932, 4, 271-273.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ac50086a010
(accessed September 24, 2014).