Conductometry

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Conductometry is a measurement of electrolytic conductivity to monitor a progress of chemical reaction. Conductometry has notable application in analytical chemistry, where conductometric titration is a standard technique. In usual analytical chemistry practice, the term conductometry is used as a synonym of conductometric titration, while the term conductimetry is used to describe non-titrative applications.^[1]

Conductometric titration

Conductometric titration is a type of titration in which the electrolytic conductivity of the reaction mixture is continuously monitored as one reactant is added. The equivalence point is the point at which the conductivity undergoes a sudden change. Marked increases or decrease in conductance are associated with the changing concentrations of the two most highly conducting ions—the hydrogen and hydroxyl ions.^[2] The method can be used for titrating coloured solutions or homogeneous suspension (e.g.: wood pulp suspension^[2]), which cannot be used with normal indicators.

Acid-base titrations and redox titrations are often performed in which commonly indicators are used to locate the end point e.g., methyl orange, phenolphthalein for acid base titrations and starch solutions for iodometric type redox process. However, electrical conductance measurements can also be used as a tool to locate the end point, e.g., in a titration of a HCl solution with the strong base NaOH.

As the titration progresses, the protons are neutralized to form water by the addition of NaOH. For each amount of NaOH added equivalent amount of hydrogen ions is removed. Effectively, the faster moving H⁺ cation is replaced by the slower moving Na⁺ ion, and the conductivity of the titrated solution as well as the measured conductance of the cell fall. This continues until the equivalence point is reached, at which we have a solution of sodium chloride, NaCl. If more base is added an increase in conductivity or conductance is observed, since more ions Na⁺ and OH^- are being added and the neutralization reaction no longer removes an appreciable number any of them. Consequently, in the titration of a strong acid with a strong base, the conductance has a minimum at the equivalence point. This minimum can be used instead of an indicator dye to determine the endpoint of the titration. Conductometric titration curve, that is a plot of the measured conductance or conductivity values against the number of milliliters of NaOH solution. the measurement of product conductivity is a typical way to monitor and continuously trend the performance of water purification systems.

References

1. ↑ Khopkar, S.M., "Basic Concepts of Analytical Chemistry", 3rd edition, 2007, ISBN 978-81-224-2092-0.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Katz et al., 1984 S. Katz, R.P. Beatson and A.M. Scallan, The determination of strong and weak acidic groups in sulfite pulps, Svensk Paperstidn. 6 (1984), pp. 48–53.