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Determination of Total Solids in Water Samples
Determination of Total Solids in Water Samples
samples
yusvelasquez (69)in StemSocial • 3 years ago
Many substances can go unnoticed, but this is not the case with solids, which
quickly alert us to the level of contamination in a given body of water. Water
quality can be altered by natural causes or as a result of human activities
derived from agricultural, industrial and domestic activities, so this type of
analysis should be carried out regardless of the origin of the sample.
Solid contaminants are very common in water, and are present in various
forms, so it is convenient to review the definition of each term and what are
the conventional methods of analysis. Depending on their nature, solids can
be classified into the following types: Total Solids, Suspended Solids,
Dissolved Solids and Sedimentable Solids.
In this post we will begin the description of the method for the determination
of total solids in water, I invite you to read.
Solids in water
Technically speaking, the word solid refers to any matter present in the water
and which is solid when it is out of the water; thus, within this category fall
from large particles such as debris and soil, to those that cannot be seen, such
as fine particles of suspended sand or even dissolved salts, since out of the
water they would be appreciated as solids[1].
But the garbage that floats or is sunk in a body of water is of a diverse nature,
and the methods of separation can be very general and quite simple. Now,
there are solids of smaller size that are more difficult to separate, so more
rigorous procedures are resorted to in a laboratory, and these solids are used
as control parameters in different industrial areas and to refer to
environmental legislation.
Figure 1. Presence of solids in water samples: dissolved and suspended.
Source: @yusvelasquez
Total Solids (TS): analytically, total solids are the resulting residual
material obtained after evaporation of a sample and its subsequent
drying in an oven at a defined and constant temperature[2]. In other
words, they represent the total solids that are not retained by filtration
and allow us to determine the amount of solids that enter a given
process, regardless of their nature.
Total Suspended Solids (TSS): are those that do not settle easily, are
heterogeneous in nature and can be less than 0.01 mm, so they do not
settle quickly; therefore, they represent all the solids that can be
separated by mechanical means such as filtration or centrifugation, and
are associated with the turbidity of the liquid[3].
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): is all the material that is dissolved in
water and that is able to pass through a glass fiber or millipore filter,
and that persist after evaporation and drying of the liquid.
Sedimentable Solids: is the amount of solids that will separate from
the sample by sedimentation after a certain period of rest, this
determination is made by means of a special conical vessel called
Imhoff cone. This is a parameter of great importance for treatment
plants, since it determines the amount of sludge that will be separated
from the wastewater stream.
Porcelain capsules
Mufla
Drying oven
Desiccator
Analytical balance
Experimental procedure
A porcelain capsule is placed in a muffle at 550 °C for one hour.
Figure 4. Drying of the capsule. Source: @yusvelasquez.
Expression of results
Where:
A = weight of capsule with sample.
B = weight of the empty capsule
This is the end of this post, I hope you find the information
presented useful. Remember the importance of analytical
methods in water quality control, see you next time!
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