Skill: PD

Title: Alcohol Content Analysis using Titration

Problem Statement: Two students were overheard discussing the alcoholic content of two brands

of beer. One student was adamant in his claim that Brand A contained a greater percentage of

alcohol than Brand B. Plan and design an experiment, using a Titrimetric method of Analysis, to

test the truth of his claim

Aim: To determine if Brand A has a higher alcohol concentration than Brand B.

Hypothesis: Brand A has a higher alcohol concentration than Brand B.

Apparatus: 250ml conical flasks, 5ml beakers, pipette, bunsen burner, wire gauze, tripod, rubber

stoppers, glass hook, burrette, volumetric flask, sulfuric acid, potassium dichromate, distilled

water, soluble starch, sodium thiosulphate, potassium iodide, Brand A, Brand B.

Procedure:

1. Acid Dichromate Solution: 125 mL of water will be added to a 500 mL conical flask. 70

mL of concentrated sulfuric acid will be added with constant swirling. Flask will be

cooled under cold water tap and 0.75 g of potassium dichromate will be added. Will be

diluted to 250ml with distilled water.

2. Starch Indicator Solution: 1.0g of soluble starch will be dissolved in 100ml beaker of

boiling water under bunsen burner and stirred until dissolved.

3. Sodium Thiosulphate Solution: 7.44g of sodium thiosulphate will be added to a 1L

volumetric flask and will be dissolved with distilled water.

4. Potassium Iodide Solution: 5g of KI will be dissolved in 25ml of distilled water.

5. Beer samples will be diluted 1:20 (10ml in 200ml) with distilled water.
6. 10ml of acid dichromate solution will be transferred to a 250ml conical flask and covered

with a rubber stopper.

7. 10ml of Brand A will be pipetted into a 5ml beaker labeled sample A.

8. Sample A will be suspended over the acid dichromate solution using a glass hook while

the flask will be covered with a rubber stopper.

9. Flask will be stored overnight at 25-30 degrees celsius.

10. Next day, flask will be allowed to come to room temperature, stopper will be loosened a

carefully and removed. Beaker labelled Sample A will discarded.

11. Walls of flask will be rinsed with distilled water, then 100ml distilled water will be added

and 1ml of potassium iodide solution will be added while swirling to mix.

12. 3 blank titrations will be prepared by adding 10ml of acid dichromate solution to a

conical flask, adding 100ml distilled water and 1ml potassium iodide solution and

swirling to mix.

13. Burette was filled with sodium thiosulphate solution and each flask will be titrated with

sodium thiosulphate.

14. When brown iodine colour fades to yellow, add 1ml of starch solution to flask and keep

titrating until blue colur appears .

15. Blank flasks will be titrated first and repeated until concordant results are obtained.

16. The above steps will be repeated to treat Sample B.

Responding Variables: Colour change at the end point of the reaction.

Manipulating Variables: Concentration of sodium thiosulphate.

 Control Variables: Volume of Beer Samples, volume of sodium thiosulphate solution,

volume of potassium dichromate solution, volume of starch indicator solution, volume of

potassium iodide solution.

Observation: Title***

Burette Reading 1st Trial 2nd Trial 3rd Trial 4th Trial

Initial Volume

Final Volume

Volume Used

Burette Reading 1st Trial 2nd Trial 3rd Trial 4th Trial

Initial Volume

Final Volume

Volume Used

Treatment of Results:

1. Determine the average volume of sodium thiosulfate used for your sample from your

concordant sample results.

 2. Determine the average volume of sodium thiosulfate used for the blank titration from

your concordant blank results. 3.

3. Subtract the volume of the sodium thiosulfate solution used for the sample titration from

the volume used for the blank titration. This volume of the sodium thiosulfate solution is

now used to determine the alcohol concentration.

4. Calculate the number of moles of sodium thiosulfate in this volume.

5. Using the equations, determine the relationship between the moles of sodium thiosulfate

and the moles of ethanol. – as 6 mol of S2 O 3 2- is equivalent to 1 mol of Cr2 O 7 2- –

and 2 mol of Cr2 O 7 2- is equivalent to 3 mol of C2 H 5 OH – then 1 mol of S2 O 3 2- is

equivalent to 0.25 mol of C2 H 5 OH

6. Use this ratio to calculate the moles of alcohol in the sample solution.

7. Remember to allow for the dilution factor eg. if the dilution was 1:20 the result needs to

be multiplied by 20.

8. Convert the answer in moles per litre to percentage (grams per 100mL) to compare with

the figure given on the bottle of the alcoholic beverage tested.

Expected Results:

It is expected that Brand A will have a greater alcohol concentration than Brand B.

Precautions:

Sulphuric acid

1. Potential hazard: Highly corrosive, irritating and dehydrating (if concentrated)

Safety precaution: Wear protective gloves and clothing

2. Zero the burette to provide accureate measurements of volumes delivered.