Hardness In Water

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8. Hardness in Water and Waste Water (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid method) Hardness is associated with the ability of water to precipitate soap and it is caused by dissolved polyvalent metallic ions. The most common polyvalent cations in fresh water are calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+). Chemically, hardness refers to the amount of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in water. This is due to the fact that contribution of other ions such as iron (Fe2+), strontium (Sr2+), aluminum (Al3+) and manganese (Mn2+) is usually negligible. Hardness results are expressed in parts of CaCO3 equivalent (ppm of calcium carbonate) but these results can be converted directly to calcium or magnesium concentration as calcium hardness (ppm CaCO3) × 0.40 = ppm Ca and magnesium hardness (ppm CaCO3) × 0.24 = ppm Mg respectively. Water hardness …show more content…

Temporary hardness
b. Permanent hardness

Temporary hardness: Temporary hardness also referred to as carbonate hardness. It is due to the presence of carbonate (CaCO3 and MgCO3) and bicarbonates [Ca(HCO3)2 and Mg(HCO3)2] salts in solution. This type of hardness can be easily removed or precipitated by boiling.
Permanent hardness: Permanent hardness also known as non-carbonate hardness, is contributed by chlorides and sulphates of calcium and magnesium (e.g. calcium chloride (CaCl2), magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), and magnesium chloride (MgCl2)). This type of hardness cannot be removed by boiling.
Principle:
The principle behind the measurement of water hardness is based on complexometric titration. Determination of water hardness is important in water quality monitoring and is usually performed by means of an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). EDTA is an example of a multidentate ligand with four carboxylic acid (~COOH) group sites and two nitrogens, having lone pairs of electrons to form bond with the metal ions (Fig1).

Figure 1 Structure of

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