ABSTRACT

This experiment was based on charcoal adsorption of oxalic acid and was performed to assess
the validity of basic relationships used to characterize processes of adsorption. Since the
plotted results provided straight lines this means that the Langmuir and Freundlich Isotherm
processes were found to be accurate. The amount of oxalic acid molecules required to create
a single layer on the surface of one gram of charcoal was determined from the experiment
and found to be 5.78 x 1020 and k was 0.166.
AIMS
The aim of this experiment was to test the validity of simple relationships which are
commonly used to describe adsorption processes and determine the number of ethane dioic
acid molecules required to form single layer of these molecules on the surface of one gram of
the charcoal and hence estimate the specific surface area of the charcoal
INTRODUCTION
Adsorption is the capability of all solid substances to attract to their surface molecules of
gases or solutions with which they are in contact, (Peter, 2012). He further on stated that it is
characterised as the accumulation of many species of molecules on the liquid surface
compared to the bulk. The process of unbalanced forces on the surface is the process of this
process. Adsorption on solid surfaces can either be oxygen on metals that involves covalent
bonding between metals and oxygen or chemisorption that results from attractions such as
nonpolar Vander Waals, involving chemical band formation between the surface and the
physical adsorption.
Adsorption is different from absorption; in absorption the molecules of a substance are
uniformly distributed in the bulk of the other while in adsorption molecules of one substance
are present in higher concentration at the surface of the other substance. The degree of
adsorption depends on the nature of adsorbate and adsorbent, surface area of adsorbent and
experimental conditions such as temperature.
There are many multiple words used to describe these adsorption processes such as Langmuir
Adsorption Isotherm and the Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm. Langmuir suggests that
adsorption takes place in terms of a simple equilibrium between surface sites (S) and
absorbate species (A) in the liquid phase as below:
S +A SA

And it is based on a simple model in which it is assumed that:

a) The surface contains a fixed concentration of adsorption sites
b) The maximum extent of adsorption corresponds to a single layer of absorbance
species on the surface
c) All surface sites have the same energy with regard to their interaction with
absorbance.
PROCEDURE
250mL of 025M of oxalic acid and 500mL of 0.1M NaOH solutions were prepared. The
NaOH solution was standardized by titration with the oxalic acid. Seven 250ml conical flasks
were labelled 1 to 7. By means of burettes the volume of water and oxalic acids were added
to each flask as indicated by table 1. 10ml was pipetted from each six solutions and separate
labelled bottles. The remaining solution was titrated against the NaOH to determine the
concentration of oxalic acid in each flask. About 1g of charcoal was accurately weighed and
transferred in each of the seven bottles. These bottles were shaken thoroughly to mix and
allowed in stand in a water bath of 25 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes the liquid in each bottle was filtered through a mall dry filter paper and the
filtrate was collected and put in clean conical flasks. 10ml of the filtrate was pipetted out into
a small flask and titrated against standardised NaOH solution until a pale pink colour
appeared. Phenolphthalein was used as an indicator .
Table 1: Solutions used in the adsorption Study
Flask Oxalic Acid Water
1 50.0 0.0
2 45.0 10.0
3 40.0 20.0
4 30.0 30.0
5 20.0 40.0
6 10.0 45.0
7 0.0 50.0

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
 Reaction Equation
H2C2O4(aq)+ 2NaOH(aq) Na2C2O2 (aq)+ H2O (l)

CONCENTRATION OF NaOH prepared: Conc of oxalic acid

Moles = 2.00g / 39.997g/mol moles = 5.63g / 126.06g/mol
=0.0500mol =0.0447mol
Molarity= 0.0500mol / 0.5L Molarity= 0.0447mol /0.25L
=0.100M =0.179M

Standardization of NaOH
Moles of oxalic acid = molarity X volume
0.179M x 0.01 L
= 0.00179moles
NaOH : OXALIC ACID
2: 1
X : 0.00179 moles of NaOH = 0.00179 moles x 2= 0.00358moles
Concentration of NaOH = 0.00358mol / 0.03639L
0.09838 M

FLAS MASS Vol of Vol of No of No of [A] [A] (M) {SA} (M) Rati
K (g) NaOH NaOH moles moles of (M) o
charcoa used used acid acid after after
l L(part1 (L) part before (part 2) before
) 2 (part 1)

1 0.9780 0.0341 0.0276 0.001679 0.001361 0.1679 0.1362 0.06503 1.0

4 8
2 1.0073 0.0256 0.0231 0.001262 0.001137 0.1262 0.1137 0.009928 0.8
6 1
3 1.0629 0.0187 0.0163 0.000922 0.0008028 0.0922 0.08028 0.006746 0.6
6 2 3 3
4 1.0154 0.0142 0.0096 0.000700 0.0004762 0.0700 0.04762 0.008836 0.4
4 8 5 5
5 1.0146 0.0073 0.0046 0.000359 0.0002268 0.0359 0.02268 0.002618 0.2
1 1 6 6
6 1.0210 0.0086 0.0022 0.000423 0.0001097 0.0423 0.01097 0.000122 0.1
1 3 5 5 9
7 1.0208 0.0012 0.0010 0.000118 0.0000531 0.0118 0.00531 0.0 0.0
 0 8 1 3 1 3

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
flask 1
Moles of acid before = concentration of NaOH x volume of NaOH ÷2
= 0.09838 M x 0.03414 L ÷ 2
= 0.001979 mol

Concentration before = 0.001679 mol ÷ 0.01 L

= 0.1679 M

Moles of acid after = 0.09838 M x 0.02768 ÷2

= 0.001526 mol
Concentration after = 0.001362 mol ÷0.01 L
= 0.1362 M
{SA} = ( [A]before – [A]after x volume ) ratio
mass
= ( 0.1679 -0.1362 x 0.040 L) 1.0
1.0259
= 0.001296 mol/g
Table 12.2 : Calculations for figure 12.1 and 12.2
[A] [A]/ {SA} Log [A] Log {SA}

0.1526 148.2993 -0.82 -2.99

0.1068 259.7276 -0.97 -3.39

0.08805 130.1167 -1.06 -3.17

0.05706 163.4021 -1.24 -3.46

0.02450 215.6690 -1.61 -3.94

0.01205 278.9352 -1.92 -4.36

 log {SA} against log [A]

-2.5
-1.9 -1.7 -1.5 -1.3 -1.1 -0.9 -0.7 -0.5

-2.7

-2.9
f(x) = 1.28113600833768 x − 1.88008910891089
R² = 0.993180360261778

-3.1

-3.3
log{SA}

-3.5

-3.7

-3.9

-4.1

-4.3

-4.5

log [A]
 [A]/{SA} against [A]
400

350

f(x) = − 1041.81182909058 x + 355.018316857008

R² = 0.749591662280936

300
[A]\{SA}

250

200

150

100
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

[A]
In figure 12.1

1/ST = slope slope = -1042

ST = 1/1042 mol/gram

= 0.0009597 mol/g

b) [A]/ ST = -1.9906

c) Surface area per gram = NmNAσ = (0.0009597 mol/g x 6.022 x 1023) x (0.5 x 10-9)

= 2.890 x 1019 m2 g-1

Molecules required to form a single layer = ( 0.0009597 mol/g x 6.022 x 1023)

= 5.78 x 1020 molecules

In figure 12.2

d) log10 {SA} = log10k + nlog10[A]

Slope = 1/n

1.2811= 1/n

n =1÷1.2811

n = 0.7806

Log10k = -0.7806

k = 10-0.7806

= 0.1657
DISCUSSION

The findings in Table 12.2 above indicate a trend of a decrease in oxalic acid concentration
following the addition of charcoal. The theory is that the charcoal in the solution has
adsorbed some of the acid molecules (Frank, 2008). The graphs above showed linearity of the
points hence proving the validity of the Langmuir Isotherm that proves that the surface fixed
concentrations of adsorption sites, and that maximum extent of adsorption corresponds to a
single layer of absorbance on a layer (Patel, 2012). This makes it easy to extrapolate k and n
which are constants for adsorption system created. Accuracy of the results of experiment
might be proved by the fact that the 2 principles were which are Langmuir Isotherm and
Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm. The R2 of both figure 1 and 2 are closer to +1 and are
0.9932 and 0.7496 respectively hence precise results. The extrapolated constants of k and n
are 0.168 and 0. 781 respectively. Eventhough the results obtained were accurate and precise
and the graphs showed straight lines as expected, some improvements should be made to the
experiment like the use of the thermostat to regulate temperatures.

CONCLUSION

The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were tested on the graphs and found to be valid. The
number of oxalic acid molecules required to form a single layer on the surface of one gram of
charcoal was 5.78 × 1020. The estimated specific surface area of the charcoal was found to be
2.89 × 1019 m2 g-1 and the value of k was found to be 0.1657.

REFERENCES

1. C. W Peter , Experiments in Physical Chemistry, 7. Th .ed., McGraw Hill (New York

2012)
2. https://noahchemicalsadsorption-chemistry.com>blogs

3. https://chemreg>colloid_science>chemistry