Using Citric Acid to reduce pH

[rogerstv]

Will someone please provide me with a starting point on the amount or how to calculate the amount of citric acid needed to reduce water with a pH of 14,74 to a pH of 7.0?

 

[bimr]

In order to calculate the amount of citric acid, you will need an analysis of the water. That is because citric acid will react with the buffers that are present in the water.

Pure water has no buffers. The typical water contains various minerals that the water has dissolved. Some of these minerals are buffers and the amount of buffers will vary with the source water.

 

[LittleInch]

Ph of 14.7 is a very strong alkali.

Circus acid is a weak to medium acid.

You'll need a lot.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[ashtree]

How is a pH of 14.7 possible?
Is not the range for pH 0 to 14 with 7 as neutral?
How have you obtained 14.74?


Regards
Ashtree
"Any water can be made potable if you filter it through enough money"

 

[IRstuff]

see:

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/6997/ph-range-outside-conventional-0-14

Based on that, your pH is so high that you would need a truckload of acid to balance that out. What you would have left could not be realistically called water anymore.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[bimr]

The pH scale typically stretches from zero to 14, passing through a neutral pH 7 (freshly distilled water). Strong acids have a low pH, while alkaline chemicals, such as bleach and liquid drain cleaner, have a high pH.

The pH scale was invented in 1909 by a Danish biochemist called Søren Sørensen. It describes how many hydrogen ions (protons) are present in a solution: the higher the pH, the lower the hydrogen ion concentration, and vice versa. But the scale does not have fixed limits, so it is indeed possible to have a pH above 14 or below zero. For example, concentrated hydrochloric acid can have a pH of around -1, while sodium hydroxide solution can have a pH as high as 15.

Link

 

[itsmoked]

Still, it sounds like he has a sodium hydroxide well?
He needs a hydrochloric acid - sodium hydroxide reactor.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[bimr]

It depends on the concentration of buffer that is present in his solution.

Unbuffered, the range of pH change from addition of 0.1 M strong acid or strong base is ~4 pH units around the starting pH of 3; buffered, the range is only 0.35 pH units around the starting pH of 6.

 

[itsmoked]

The logarithmic pH is a bit mind bending.

I installed a PID controller on a wastewater facility for a tannery effluent to sewer system to null the pH. That was an interesting effort to get the controller to be stable.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[bimr]

The logarithmic as well as the buffer aspects can make it a challenge.