PH adjustment

The principle of this test is as follows The liquid suspected of containing urea is treated with dilute acid or alkali until its pH is about 7. A solution of the enzyme is also made and its pH adjusted to 7. The two solutions are mixed and the resulting conversion of urea to ammonium carbonate causes the pH of the solution to rise to over 8 this change is noted by the use of a suitable indicator, phenol-red being the one usually employed. Proteins do not interfere with the test, but the reaction is inhibited by traces of heavy metals. 

For reductions carried out in acidic media a pH adjust mentwith sodium hydroxide IS required in the last step in order to convert ArNHs to ArNHo... 

In a back titration, a slight excess of the metal salt solution must sometimes be added to yield the color of the metal-indicator complex. Where metal ions are easily hydrolyzed, the complexing agent is best added at a suitable, low pH and only when the metal is fully complexed is the pH adjusted upward to the value required for the back titration. In back titrations, solutions of the following metal ions are commonly employed Cu(II), Mg, Mn(II), Pb(II), Th(IV), and Zn. These solutions are usually prepared in the approximate strength desired from their nitrate salts (or the solution of the metal or its oxide or carbonate in nitric acid), and a minimum amount of acid is added to repress hydrolysis of the metal ion. The solutions are then standardized against an EDTA solution (or other chelon solution) of known strength. 

Phacomp system PH Adjustment Phages Phaltan Phanodorm Pharaceuticals PHARM Pharmaceutical... 

Pretreatment of Suspensions. Another important aspect of soHd—Hquid separation is conditioning or pretreatment of the feed suspension to alter some important property of the suspension and improve the performance of a separator that follows. A conditioning effect is obtained using several processes such as coagulation and docculation, addition of inert filter aids, crystalliza tion, freezing, temperature or pH adjustment, thermal treatment, and aging. The first two operations are considered in more detail due to their importance and wide use. 

In this case, the components are mixed, the pH adjusted to about 6.0 with sodium hydroxide, and the solution appHed to the textile via a pad-dry-cure treatment. The combination of urea and formaldehyde given off from the THPC further strengthens the polymer and causes a limited amount of cross-linking to the fabric. The Na2HP04 not only acts as a catalyst, but also as an additional buffer for the system. Other weak bases also have been found to be effective. The presence of urea in any flame-retardant finish tends to reduce the amount of formaldehyde released during finishing. 

Fluoroboric acid is used as a stripping solution for the removal of solder and plated metals from less active substrates. A number of fluoroborate plating baths (27) require pH adjustment with fluoroboric acid (see Electroplating). 

Other Food Uses. Jellies, jams, and preserves use malic acid to balance flavor and adjust pH for pectin set. Canned fmits and vegetables employ malic acid in combination with ascorbic acid to produce a synergistic effect that aids in the reduction of browning. Wine and cider producers use malic acid in malolactic fermentation to provide bouquet and for pH adjustment. 

In the most common production method, the semibatch process, about 10% of the preemulsified monomer is added to the deionised water in the reactor. A shot of initiator is added to the reactor to create the seed. Some manufacturers use master batches of seed to avoid variation in this step. Having set the number of particles in the pot, the remaining monomer and, in some cases, additional initiator are added over time. Typical feed times ate 1—4 h. Lengthening the feeds tempers heat generation and provides for uniform comonomer sequence distributions (67). Sometimes skewed monomer feeds are used to offset differences in monomer reactivity ratios. In some cases a second monomer charge is made to produce core—shell latices. At the end of the process pH adjustments are often made. The product is then pumped to a prefilter tank, filtered, and pumped to a post-filter tank where additional processing can occur. When the feed rate of monomer during semibatch production is very low, the reactor is said to be monomer starved. Under these... 

Deliming and Bating. The limed hides have a pH around 12. Because chrome tanning is done at pH 2—4, the lime must be removed for pH adjustment. In addition, the undesirable materials in the hide, ie, both natural and the degradation products from the unhairing, must be removed (7,9). 

Control of chromium penetration, essential to permit tannage of the center of the hide, is accompHshed by pH adjustment. At a pH > 3.0 the reactivity of the hide to the chromium complex is greatiy increased. The pH is therefore raised gradually to the desired point by addition of a mild alkah, usually sodium bicarbonate. The chemistry of chrome tanning involves competing reactions that must be controlled for satisfactory results. 

Fig. 4. Schematic of a leather tanning faciUty fitted with a wastewater treatment plant. Treatment of the combined wastes using sulfide oxidation and waste effluent pH adjustment greatiy decreases the suspended soHds and BOD loading (3). Courtesy of Krieger Publishing Co.

Ammonium Ion Removal. A fixed-bed molecular-sieve ion-exchange process has been commercialized for the removal of ammonium ions from secondary wastewater treatment effluents. This application takes advantage of the superior selectivity of molecular-sieve ion exchangers for ammonium ions. The first plants employed clinoptilolite as a potentially low cost material because of its availability in natural deposits. The bed is regenerated with a lime-salt solution that can be reused after the ammonia is removed by pH adjustment and air stripping. The ammonia is subsequentiy removed from the air stream by acid scmbbing. 

Precise coatrol of the course, speed, and extent of the reaction is essential for successful manufacture. Important factors are mole ratio of reactants catalyst (pH of reaction mixture) and reaction time and temperature. Amino resias are usually made by a batch process. The formaldehyde and other reactants are charged to a kettie, the pH adjusted, and the charge heated. Often the pH of the formaldehyde is adjusted before a dding the other reactants. Aqueous formaldehyde is most convenient to handle and lowest ia cost. 

Sodium bisulfate, NaHSO, is a convenient mild acid and is safe for uses as a household toilet-bowl cleaner, automobile-radiator cleaner, and for swimming pool pH adjustment. It is used for metal pickling, as a dye-reducing agent, for soil disinfecting, and as a promoter in hardening certain types of cement. 

Pet Foods and Commercial Animal Feeds. Eor many years, it has been known that stable, long-shelf-life, intermediate-moisture pet foods can be prepared through the use of 0.1—0.3 wt % sorbates. In these products, the antimicrobial effectiveness of sorbates is enhanced by a combination of moderate heat treatment, pH adjustment, and reduced water activity via humectants such as propylene glycol, or by adjusting sugar and salt content. These techniques have been reviewed extensively (138,139). 

Sulfamic acid has a unique combination of properties that makes it particularly well suited for scale removal and chemical cleaning operations, the main commercial appHcations. Sulfamic acid is also used in sulfation reactions, pH adjustment, preparation of synthetic sweeteners (qv), and a variety of chemical processing appHcations. Salts of sulfamic acid are used in electroplating (qv) and electroforrning operations as well as for manufacturing flame retardants (qv) and weed and hnish killers (see Herbicides). 

Manufacture of Dyes and Pigments and pH Adjustment, Use of sulfamic acid in the manufacture of dyes and pigments involves removal of excess nitrite from diazotization reactions (see Azo DZ s) and is based on the following reaction ... 

Sulfamic acid is also used ia some dyeiag operations for pH adjustment however, it is useful in lowering pH levels in a variety of other systems. The low pH persists at elevated temperatures and there are no objectionable fumes. 

There are a number of minerals in which thorium is found. Thus a number of basic process flow sheets exist for the recovery of thorium from ores (10). The extraction of mona ite from sands is accompHshed via the digestion of sand using hot base, which converts the oxide to the hydroxide form. The hydroxide is then dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the pH adjusted to between 5 and 6, affording the separation of thorium from the less acidic lanthanides. Thorium hydroxide is dissolved in nitric acid and extracted using methyl isobutyl ketone or tributyl phosphate in kerosene to yield Th(N02)4,... 

The red cake can be further purified by dissolving it in an aqueous solution of Na2C02- The iron, aluminum, and silicon impurities precipitate from the solution upon pH adjustment. Ammonium metavanadate then precipitates upon the addition of NH Cl and is calcined to give vanadium pentoxide of greater than 99.8% purity. 

Fermentative Manufacture. Throughout the years, riboflavin yields obtained by fermentation have been improved to the point of commercial feasibiUty. Most of the riboflavin thus produced is consumed in the form of cmde concentrates for the enrichment of animal feeds. Riboflavin was first produced by fermentation in 1940 from the residue of butanol—acetone fermentation. Several methods were developed for large-scale production (41). A suitable carbohydrate-containing mash is prepared and sterilised, and the pH adjusted to 6—7. The mash is buffered with calcium carbonate, inoculated with Clostridium acetohutylicum and incubated at 37—40°C for 2—3 d. The yield is ca 70 mg riboflavin/L (42) (see Fermentation). 

With aluminum sulfate, optimum coagulation efficiency and minimum floe solubiUty normally occur at pH 6.0—7.0. Iron coagulants can be used successfully over the much broader pH range of 5.0—11.0. If ferrous compounds are used, oxidation to ferric iron is needed for complete precipitation. This may require either chlorine addition or pH adjustment. 

---