Department of Chemistry

School of Advanced Sciences

Vellore Institute of Technology
Vellore, 632014

SJT-504B
Module 1 Water Technology
Characteristics of hard water - hardness, DO, TDS in water and their determination –
numerical problems in hardness determination by EDTA; Modern techniques of water
analysis for industrial use - Disadvantages of hard water in industries
Module 2 Water Treatment
Water softening methods: - Lime-soda, Zeolite and ion exchange processes and their
applications. Specifications of water for domestic use (ICMR and WHO); Unit processes
involved in water treatment for municipal supply - Sedimentation with coagulant- Sand
Filtration - chlorination; Domestic water purification – Candle filtration- activated carbon
filtration; Disinfection methods- Ultrafiltration, UV treatment, Ozonolysis, Reverse Osmosis;
Electro dialysis
Module 3 Corrosion
Dry and wet corrosion - detrimental effects to buildings, machines, devices & decorative art
forms, emphasizing Differential aeration, Pitting, Galvanic and Stress corrosion cracking;
Factors that enhance corrosion and choice of parameters to mitigate corrosion
Module 1 Water Technology
Characteristics of hard water - hardness, DO, TDS in water and their determination –
numerical problems in hardness determination by EDTA; Modern techniques of water
analysis for industrial use - Disadvantages of hard water in industries
Module 2 Water Treatment
Water softening methods: - Lime-soda, Zeolite and ion exchange processes and their
applications. Specifications of water for domestic use (ICMR and WHO); Unit processes
involved in water treatment for municipal supply - Sedimentation with coagulant- Sand
Filtration - chlorination; Domestic water purification – Candle filtration- activated carbon
filtration; Disinfection methods- Ultrafiltration, UV treatment, Ozonolysis, Reverse Osmosis;
Electro dialysis
Module 3 Corrosion
Dry and wet corrosion - detrimental effects to buildings, machines, devices & decorative art
forms, emphasizing Differential aeration, Pitting, Galvanic and Stress corrosion cracking;
Factors that enhance corrosion and choice of parameters to mitigate corrosion
Module 4 Corrosion Control
Corrosion protection - cathodic protection – sacrificial anodic and impressed current
protection methods; Advanced protective coatings: electroplating and electroless plating,
PVD and CVD. Alloying for corrosion protection – Basic concepts of Eutectic composition and
Eutectic mixtures - Selected examples – Ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.
Module 5 Electrochemical Energy Systems
Brief introduction to conventional primary and secondary batteries; High energy
electrochemical energy systems: Lithium batteries – Primary and secondary, its Chemistry,
advantages and applications. Fuel cells – Polymer membrane fuel cells, Solid-oxide fuel cells-
working principles, advantages, applications. Solar cells – Types – Importance of silicon single
crystal, polycrystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells, dye sensitized solar cells - working
principles, characteristics and applications
Module 6 Fuels and Combustion
Calorific value - Definition of LCV, HCV. Measurement of calorific value using bomb
calorimeter and Boy’s calorimeter including numerical problems. Controlled combustion of
fuels - Air fuel ratio – minimum quantity of air by volume and by weight Numerical problems-
three way catalytic converter- selective catalytic reduction of NOX; Knocking in IC engines-
Octane and Cetane number - Antiknocking agents.
Module 7 Polymers
Difference between thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics; Engineering application of
plastics - ABS, PVC, PTFE and Bakelite; Compounding of plastics: moulding of plastics for Car
parts, bottle caps (Injection moulding), Pipes, Hoses (Extrusion moulding), Mobile Phone
Cases, Battery Trays, (Compression moulding), Fibre reinforced polymers, Composites
(Transfer moulding), PET bottles (blow moulding); Conducting polymers- Polyacetylene-
Mechanism of conduction – applications (polymers in sensors, self-cleaning windows)
 Course Objectives
• To impart technological aspects of applied chemistry
• To lay foundation for practical application of chemistry in
engineering aspects
Expected Course Outcome
Students will be familiar with the water treatment, corrosion and
its control, engineering applications of polymers, types of fuels
and their applications, basic aspects of
electrochemistry and electrochemical energy storage devices
 Water is nature’s most wonderful, abundant and useful
compound. “Without food, human can Survive for a number
of days, but water is such an essential that without it one
cannot survive”

Sources of Water:
o Surface water
• Rain water: It is probably the purest form of natural water,
since it obtained as a result of evaporation from the surface
water. However during the journey downwards through the
atmosphere, it dissolves a considerable amount of industrial
gases (like CO2, SO2, NO2, etc.) and suspended solid
particles, both of organic and inorganic origin.
• River water: Rivers are fed by rain and spring water. In general
the greater the contact that water has with the soil, or the more
soluble the minerals of the soils with which it has come in
contact, greater the amount of dissolved impurities in river
water
• Lake water: It has more constant chemical composition. It,
usually contains much lesser amounts of dissolved minerals
than even well water, but quantity of organic matter present in
it is quite high
• Sea water: It is the most impure form of natural water. Sea
water contains, on an average, about 3.5% of dissolved salts,
out of which about 2.6% is sodium chloride. Other salts
present are Na2SO4, KHCO3, Mg(HCO3)2, Ca(HCO3)2, KBr,
MgBr2 ect
o Underground water
• A part of rain, which reaches the surface of the earth,
percolates into the earth
• In general, is cleaner in appearance due to the filtering action
of the soil, but contains more of the dissolved salts. Thus,
water from these sources contains more hardness. Usually,
underground water is of high organic purity
 Suspended Impurities:
Particles in water give rise to turbidity
Debris
Colloids
 Dissolved Impurities:
Total Dissolved solids (TDS)
Inorganic salts
Organic Matter
Dissolved Gases
 Biological Impurities:
Microorganism
Pathogens
Natural water is contaminated mostly by three major types
of Impurities:
o Physical impurities
o Chemical impurities
o Biological impurities

Physical Chemical Biological

impurities impurities impurities

Color Acidity

Turbidity Gases Microorganisms

Taste Minerals

Odor
 Physical Impurities

 Color: Color in water is caused by metallic substance like salts

of iron, manganese, human materials, tannins, peat, algae,
weeds, protozoa, industrial effluents. Actually, color in water is
due to dissolved substances and substances present as fine
colloid. The change in color of water is not harmful, unless it is
associated with any chemical of toxic nature.
 Usually yellow tinge indicates the presence of chromium
 Usually Yellowish-red color indicated the presence of Organic
matter
 Usually Red-brown color indicates the presence of peaty
matter
 Turbidity
 It is due to the colloidal, extremely fine suspension such as
clay, slit, finely divided matters and micro-organism like
plankton etc.
 Turbidity depends not only on the quantity of the insoluble
substances, but also on their size, shape and refractive index.

 Taste: It is directly interlinked with odor of the water

 Bitter: Due to presence of sulphate of Fe, Al, Mn
 Soapy: Due to presence of large amount of NaHCO3
 Brackish: Due to the presence unusual amount of salts
Major Impurities of water

Cationic Anionic Gases Biological Nonionic and

undissolved
Calcium Bicarbonate CO2 Microorganis Turbidity, silt, mud, dirt
Magnesium Carbonate H2S ms such as and other suspended
Sodium Hydroxide NH3 algae, fungi, matter Color, Plankton,
Potassium Sulfate CH4 bacteria Organic matter,
Ammonium Chloride O2 Microorganisms,
Iron Nitrate Bacteria
Manganese Phosphate
 Total
Dissolved
pH dissolved
oxygen
solids

Chemical Biological
oxygen oxygen
demand demand
 pH, a measure of hydrogen ion activity, is used to express the
intensity of acidic or alkaline condition of a solution. It is also an
important factor in water analysis since it enters into the calculation
of acidity, alkalinity and processes like coagulation, disinfection and
corrosion. The pH of a sample can be determined electrometrically or
colorimetrically
 When an acid or base is dissolved in water, the pH will be less or
greater than pure water. pH will be 0 to 14
• Water that has been exposed to air is mildly acidic as it absorbs
carbon dioxide and converted into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions
(essentially creating carbonic acid)
• The pH of seawater plays an important role in the ocean's carbon
cycle, ocean acidification caused by carbon dioxide
emissions
• High pH causes a bitter taste, water pipes and water-using
appliances become encrusted with deposits, Low-pH water will
corrode or dissolve metals and other substances
Based on pH values, following
conclusions can be drawn:
 Waters having pH above 8 contains
carbonates or hydroxide. It may be
with or without bicarbonates
 Water with pH value in the range of 4.5
to 8 contain no carbonates but contain 10.2- more OH‒ + CO32‒
bicarbonates and carbonic acid. 8.3-10.2 HCO3‒ + CO32‒
Natural waters falls this category
 Water having pH value below 4.5 4.3-8.3 HCO3‒ + CO2
contains carbonic acid but not 4.3 or less No Alkalinity
carbonates or bicarbonates
 The desirable pH range for drinking
waters is 7.0 to 8.5
 pH in conjunction with total salinity,
total alkalinity and temperature is used
to determine whether a water is
corrosive in nature or having scale
forming tendencies
 Dissolved oxygen (DO) is the amount of oxygen dissolved in a
given quantity of water at a particular temperature and
atmospheric pressure

 DO: Amount
of oxygen
dissolved in
one liter of
water-
expressed as
mg/L (ppm)
• Aeration
• Water temperature: Temperature of the water body
• Organic wastes
• Aquatic plant populations
• Photosynthetic activity of the water
• Respiration of animals and plants
• Speed of water flow
• Roughness of surface over which water flows
• Altitude(atmospheric pressure)
• Human activities
• Salt concentration: The solubility of oxygen decreases with increase in
concentration of the salt under a pressure of one atmosphere, the
solubility is less in saline water.
• Other dissolved gases concentrations: Dissolved N2, CO2 etc reduces DO
 Henry's Law: Henry's law states that at a constant temperature, the amount
of a gas that dissolves in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial
pressure of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid. It was formulated by
William Henry in 1803
 Temperature-Oxygen relationship
Temperature (0 ⁰C) Oxygen Solubility (mg/L)
0 14.6
5 12.8
10 11.3
15 10.2
20 9.2
25 8.6
100 0
 Most life
supporting water
systems: 4-6 mg/L
of DO
 It is one of the most useful titrations involving iodine was originally
developed by Winkler to determine the amount of oxygen in sample
of water
 The dissolved oxygen content is not only important with respect to
the species of aquatic life which can survive in the water, but is also
measure of its ability to oxidize organic impurities in water
 DO test is used to control the amount of oxygen in boiler feed water
by mechanical, physical and chemical methods
 DO test is helps to assess the raw water quality and to keep a check
on stream pollution
 DO test is the basis of BOD( Biological oxygen demand) which is an
important parameter in evaluating the pollution potential of domestic
and industrial wastes
 In order to avoid loss of oxygen from the water sample, it is fixed by
MnSO4
 The principle involved in this methods of determination of DO is to
bring about the oxidation of potassium iodide (KI) to iodine with
dissolved oxygen present in water sample after adding MnSO4, KI
and KOH
 The reaction with manganese(II) hydroxide which is converted rapidly
and quantitatively to manganese(III) hydroxide. Here MnSO4 acts
oxygen carrier to enable the dissolved oxygen in molecular form to
take part into the reaction
 The DO present water sample oxidises the Mn(II) to Mn(III) which
precipitates as a brown hydrated hydroxide after the addition of KI
and KOH
 On acidification, the manganese reverts back to the divalent state and
an equivalent amount of iodine is liberated form the KI present
 The liberated I2 is titrated against standard sodium thiosulfate (hypo)
solution, using starch as indicator
 This means that 4 mol thiosulphate correspond to 1 mol dissolved
oxygen
 MnSO4 + 2KOH Mn(OH)2 + K2SO4

Mn(OH)2 + O2 + 2H2O Mn(OH)3 (Brown compound)

Mn(OH)3 + I‒ + 3H+ Mn2+ + I/2 I2 + 3H2O

2Na2S2O3 + I2 Na2S4O6 + 2NaI

Sodium thiosulfate Sodium tetrathionate
 What is the interference of Winkler’s method and how to overcome
it?
The main interference in this process is due to the presence of nitrites.
This is overcome by treating the original water sample with sodium
azide which destroys any nitrite when the sample is acidified

HNO2 + HN3 N2 + N2 O + H 2 O
 Theory
• The secondary standard solution of sodium thiosulphate is
standardized by titrating with a primary standard potassium
dichromate (K2Cr2O7) using starch as indicator

Cr2O72‒ + 14H+ + 6I‒ 2Cr3+ + 3I2 + 7H2O

2S2O32‒ + I2 S4O62‒ + 2I‒
Which part of starch gives blue coloration with iodine?
 Starch can be separated into two major components, amylose
and amylopectin which exist in different proportions in in
various plants. Amylose, which is a straight-chain compound
and is abundant in potato starch, gives a blue color with iodine
and assumes a spiral form. Amylopectine, which has a
branched-chain structure, forms a red product, probably by
adsorption.

Amylose Amylopectine
 What is the mechanism of starch as indicator in iodometry
titration?
 Starch reacts with iodine in presence of iodide to form an
intensely blue-colored complex, which is visible at low
concentration of iodine. The sensitivity of the color reaction is
such that a blue color is visible when the iodine concentration is
2×10‒5 M and the iodide concentration is greater than 4×10‒4 M
at 20 ⁰C.

I2 + I‒ I3‒