Sciencemadness Discussion Board
Not logged in [Login ]
Go To Bottom

Printable Version  
Author: Subject: ways to measure CO2 or carbonate concentration
nannan
Harmless
*




Posts: 1
Registered: 2-1-2005
Location: london
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 2-1-2005 at 07:37
ways to measure CO2 or carbonate concentration


I'm carrying out a reaction between CO2 and Carbonate buffer in capillaries. i need to identify the concentration of either CO2 gas or Carbonate ion. This detection should be on-line and without precipitates considering the small dimension of the capillary(1mm).Thank you very much.
View user's profile View All Posts By User This user has MSN Messenger
chemoleo
Biochemicus Energeticus
*****




Posts: 3005
Registered: 23-7-2003
Location: England Germany
Member Is Offline

Mood: crystalline

[*] posted on 2-1-2005 at 08:00


The only way I can see this to work continuously is to do it spectrophotometrically - i.e. you want a dye or some compound that either HCO3- or CO2 binds to specifically, and whose absorption spectrum changes as a result of it.
That way you can figure the amount of bound versus unbound species.

The problem is that if something binds to a dye (hemoglobin, although not a dye in the usual sense, binds CO2 and produces a shift), you are removing the HCO3-/CO2 irreversibly out of the equilibrium, and thus you are forcing the equilibrium to the right, causing more CO2 to be dissolved etc.
Whether this is a problem depends on the respective equilibrium constants.




Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
View user's profile View All Posts By User
neutrino
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1583
Registered: 20-8-2004
Location: USA
Member Is Offline

Mood: oscillating

[*] posted on 2-1-2005 at 10:08


Adding an indicator may work if there’s nothing else acidic/basic in there, as the carbonate ion is weakly basic.

[Edited on 2-1-2005 by neutrino]
View user's profile View All Posts By User
BromicAcid
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 3247
Registered: 13-7-2003
Location: Wisconsin
Member Is Offline

Mood: Rock n' Roll

[*] posted on 2-1-2005 at 10:16


Considering the small dimensions of a capillary, as you said, an ion selective electrode would be out of the question, to determine the concentration of CO2 gas though you could use a gas sensing electrode, they are reasonably priced considering the accuracy of their measurements and wide range over which they function.



Shamelessly plugging my attempts at writing fiction: http://www.robvincent.org
View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User
mick
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 338
Registered: 3-10-2003
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 2-1-2005 at 13:16


Measure the carbonate first and then convert the CO2 to carbonate and measure the total.

mick

On line Ph meter titation.

[Edited on 2-1-2005 by mick]
View user's profile View All Posts By User

  Go To Top