ACID-BASE EQUILIBRIUM

DETERMINATION OF ACIDITY IN A VINEGAR AND A WINE

Valentina Rodríguez1Karen Montoya2and Angie Santana3
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Valle, Calle 13 # 100-00, Cali.
1
[email protected]@correounivalle.edu.co
3
[email protected]
April 4, 2018

Summary. In the laboratory practice, an acid-base titration was performed to determine the percentage of acid.
acetic in vinegar and determine the total, fixed, and volatile acidity of a white wine expressed in terms of acid
tartaric. In the vinegar, the percentage of acetic acid was 5.16% with an error percentage of 3.20%. In the wine
white, the total and fixed acidity was 6.71 and 6.40 (g tartaric acid / L) respectively and the volatile acidity was 0.25 (g
acetic acid / L). It is concluded that from the acid-base titrations, the quality of the vinegar can be verified.
in % of acetic acid and the quality of wine based on fixed acidity in g of tartaric acid/L.

Acidity, titration, endpoint, acid and base.

1. METHODOLOGY 1.4 Determination of total acidity in wine.

1.1 Preparation of the 0.1M NaOH solution. 10.0 mL of the problem solution (white wine) was taken.
and were poured into a 125 mL Erlenmeyer. Then, they
0.80 g of NaOH was weighed in a beaker and three drops of phenolphthalein were added and it was titrated with the
then a little distilled water was added to dissolve NaOH solution standardized until obtaining a
the NaOH on the stirring plate. Afterwards, it was taken to amber color change.
a 200 mL flask filling the volume with water
distilled, and finally the solution was homogenized 1.5 Determination of fixed acidity in wine.
NaOH.
25.00 mL of the wine problem solution was taken and
1.2 Standardization of the NaOH solution. they were poured into a beaker. Then, they
it evaporated to a volume of 10 mL; 25 mL was added
0.23 g of potassium biphthalate (KC) was dried.8H5O4) a of distilled water and was re-evaporated until a
approximately 100°C for 2 hours. Then, it was weighed volume of 25 mL. Again, it was repeated the
0.10 g of dry biphthalate was transferred to a 125 mL Erlenmeyer flask. evaporation and filling procedure twice. By
mL and was dissolved in 20 mL of distilled water. Then, finally, it was diluted to 50 mL with distilled water,
two drops of phenolphthalein were added and it was titrated with they added 3 drops of phenolphthalein and titrated with the
the NaOH solution standardized until obtaining a NaOH solution standardized until obtaining a
permanent pink. change from yellow to orange, since the wine
White initially had an amber color.
1.3 Determination of acid content in the
vinegar. 2. DATA AND RESULTS

10.0 mL of vinegar was taken, diluted in a flask of 2.1 Molarity of NaOH.

100 mL and the solution was homogenized. Then, it
25.0 mL of the diluted vinegar solution was measured. To calculate the molarity of the NaOH solution we
They poured into a 125 mL Erlenmeyer and added 30 he took into account the weight of potassium bophthalate (0.1003 g)
mL of distilled water. Then, 3 drops of were added. and the amount of volume spent of NaOH (5.00 mL) in
phenolphthalein and was titrated with the NaOH solution until the assessment. In addition, the following was taken into account
obtain a permanent pink color. chemical equation:

K C8H 5 O 4(ac ) + Sodium hydroxide(ac) → K N a C 8H4O 4(ac ) + H 2 O (l)

Ecu. 1
 g C 4H 6 O 6
O4∗1 mol K C8H 5 O4 ¿ 6.40
∗1 mol NaOH L
204.14gK C8H 5O4
0.1003g K C8H5 2.2.3 Volatile acidity of wine.
1 mol K C8H 5O 4
To calculate the volatile acidity of the wine, the following was taken into account
Sodium hydroxide∗1
∗1000mL the following equation also took into account that the
5.00mL NaOH
¿ 4.91 x 10−4mol the acidity of wine is expressed in grams of acid
1L acetic in a liter of wine (g CH3COOH/L).

¿ 0.0983M NaOH Volatile acidity= Total acidity− Fixed acidity

[Ecu. 3]
2.2 Acidity of wine.
g C 4H 6O 6 g C 4H6 O 6
To calculate the total and fixed acidity of the wine, it was taken into account Volatile acidity=6.71 −6.40
count the following chemical equation: L L

C 4H 6 O6 + 2NaOH → 2Na + H2O2 C 4H 4O6 +2 H 2 O g C 4H6 O 6

¿ 0.31
[Ecu. 2] L
2.2.1 Total acidity of the wine.
These grams of tartaric acid were transformed into grams
To calculate the total acidity of the wine, the following was taken into account of acetic acid.
that 9.1 mL of standardized NaOH was required for the
titration of 10.0 mL white wine. g C 4H 6O 6
∗1 mol C4H 6O6
L H +¿
Sodium hydroxide∗0.0983 mol NaOH 0.31 ∗2mol ¿
∗1 mole of C4H6 O6 150.1gC4H 6O6 1 mole of C4H 6 O 6
1000mL solution
9.1mL
2 moles of NaOH +¿∗1 mol CH3COOH
¿
1 mole of¿H+¿
¿ 4.13 times 10−3mol H
O6∗150.05gC4H 6O 6
∗1 COOH∗60.0g CH3 COOH
−4 1 mole of C4H 6O6 ¿ 4.13 times 10−3molCH3
¿ 4.47x10 molC4H 6 1 mole of CH3 COOH
0.010L

g C 4H6 O 6 g C H 3 COOH
¿ 6.71 ¿ 0.25
L L

2.2.2 Fixed acidity of wine. Table 1. Total acidity, fixed and volatile of the wine expressed
in terms of tartaric acid.
To calculate the fixed acidity of the wine, it was taken into account that ACIDITY (g acid ACIDITY
DATE
21.7 mL of NaOH was required for the titration of the tartaric/L acetic acid/L)
white wine solution. Total acidity 6.71 -
Fixed acidity 6.40 -
Sodium hydroxide∗0.0983 mol NaOH Acidity
∗1 mol of C4H 6 O6 0.31 0.25
1000mL solution volatile
21.7mL
2 moles of NaOH
2.3 Percentage of acetic acid in vinegar.
O6∗150.05gC4H 6O 6
∗1 To calculate the percentage of acetic acid in vinegar
1 mol C4H 6O6 it was taken into account that 21.9 mL of NaOH was required to
¿ 1.07x10−3 molC4H 6
0.025L the valuation took into account the following
equations:
CH3 COOH+ NaOH → CH3 COONa+ H 2 O neutralization. The valuations are widely
Ecu. 4 used in analytical chemistry to determine acids,
bases, oxidizing agents, reducing agents, ions
CH3 COO 2 3
−¿¿
−¿+ H O ⇌ C H COOH+OH ¿ metallics, proteins, and many other chemical species.
The assessments are based on the reaction that occurs between
Ecuador 5
an analyte and a standard known reagent
titular. This reaction has a stoichiometry
Sodium hydroxide∗0.0983 mol NaOH
∗1 mol of CH3COOH known and reproducible [1]. The assessment of the whole
1000mLsln wine acidity, which is known as total acidity, is
21.9mL
1mol NaOH usually encompasses when expressed in the form of
the most important acid content, that is, tartaric:
Carboxylic acid∗60.0gCH 3 COOH total acidity is measured in grams of tartaric acid per
¿ 2.15 x 10−3molCH3 liter of wine. The concentration of tartaric acid will
1molCH3COOH
generally located between 4.5 and 7.0 g/L.
0.129gCH3COOH which is approximately equivalent to a pH range
∗100mL between 3.2 and 3.7 [3]. As can be seen in Table 1,
25.00 mL the total acidity of the wine is within the parameter
¿ ∗100%=5.16%
10mL established mentioned above, which indicates that
a good end point of the assessment was obtained, which
To calculate the percentage of error, the following was used It indicates a sudden change in a physical property of the
equation and it was taken into account that the theoretical percentage of solution (color change of the indicator) [2].
acetic acid in vinegar is 5%:
Apart from this, the acidity level must be known.
| Experimental value−real value| volatile, which is given by the amount of acetic acid
Er = x100% what the wine has, at all times throughout the
real value
winemaking and aging process, and before going out to
[Ecu. 6]
market. If the volatile acidity is increasing it is
A symptom that the wine is going sour, it is suffering.
Table 2. Percentage of acetic acid in vinegar and some undesirable microbial alteration, and it should be
percentage of error. act properly to prevent the wine from going bad
Percentage of acid Percentage of definitively ruin [4]. Generally,
DATE
acetic (%) % it is important that the volatile acidity is minimal and fluctuates between
Vinegar 5.16 3.20 0.2 - 1 g/L up to one gram per liter [3], a wine with a
content of acetic acid greater than 1 g/L is considered
3. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS defective and should not be marketed. As it could
According to Brønsted-Lowry theory, an acid is observe in table 1, the quantified volatile acidity of
a proton donor, while a base is a wine is within the permissible range.
proton acceptor. An important characteristic of
the Brønsted-Lowry concept is the idea that an acid On the other hand, in the case of the assessment of acidity of the
it becomes a potential proton acceptor called vinegar, its acidity is expressed in terms of acid
conjugate base (of the original acid) upon donating a proton acetic as it is the predominant acid [5]. A vinegar
For example, as can be observed in the equation it has a content that varies between 3% and 6%
4, acetic acid and the acetate ion constitute a pair (weight/volume) of acetic acid, although it can also
conjugate acid-base since acetic acid contain other acids in lower concentration; by
(CH3COOH) turns into its conjugate base or salt. example, tartaric acid or citric acid [5]. How to
3COONa) when reacting with NaOH. The acids and As can be seen in Table 2, a percentage of was obtained
bases are commonly referred to as strong or weak, acetic acid of 5.16% with an error of 3.20%, the
depending on whether they react almost 'completely' or only sources of error may be related to the
"partially" to produce H+ in OH-In this determination of the equivalence point of the titration, the
In practice, two weak acids were quantified, namely What is the point at which the amount of added valence is?
tartaric acid and acetic acid. it is exactly what is needed for it to react
stoichiometrically with the analyte [2]. At the point of
The process used to quantify the acidity of wine and the equivalence the solution will have a basic pH due to
vinegar is known as valuation of that the solution will only contain sodium acetate (see the
equation 4), which hydrolyzes in aqueous medium, according to the way: what is the pH of a solution of
equation 5, therefore an indicator must be used that CH 3 COO Naof 0.028M? [7].
I changed color to a high pH like phenolphthalein [6]. In addition, sodium acetate dissociates in water generating
It is important to keep in mind that hydrolysis is a acetate anions and sodium cations. The sodium cations to
process by which the cation or anion of a salt always proceed from a strong base (NaOH) do not hydrolyze in
that comes from a weak base or weak acid, reacts the water, but the acetate anions that come from a
with water generating its conjugate base or acid [8]. weak acid CH 3 COOH They suffer the following
Another possible cause of error is due to the preparation of the
transformation [8].
standard NaOH solution from phthalate of
potassium, since this standardization procedure −¿¿

requires an assessment, the errors associated with the CH3 COO −¿+ H O↔CH COOH+OH
2 3 ¿

ratings such as: the change of color in the

indicator, the valuation error, the parallax error is To find the pH, Equation 5 is required and
they propagate in the consecutive calculations and are notable in determine the value of Kbin the following way:
the percentage of error.
Ka x Kb= Kw [Ecu. 7]

1.0x10−14
Kb= −5
= 5.6x10−10
1.8x10
4. CONCLUSIONS
Where What a
is acid dissociation constant of the acid
the
It is important to standardize the solutions of aceticbit K
is the basic dissociation constant of the ion
strong acids or bases with their respective pattern acetate (conjugate base) and finally, Kw it is the constant
primary, previously treated, to find with of the ionic product of water.
more reliability the concentration of the base or
the strong acid that will subsequently be used The equilibrium equation of the acetate ion is set up.
in acid-base analytical methods. This next way:
the procedure is done in order not to
they propagate the errors in the final result due to the K= [ COOH
b CH 3 ] 5.6x10−10
x¿¿
use of an erroneous value of the (X )( X)
concentration either due to pollution, bad =¿ 5.6x10−10
0.028
preparation, etc.
Acid-base assessments help to By clearing the equation of equilibrium, it is obtained that [
determine the quality of commercial vinegar and of OH −¿¿ =3.96x 10M
−6
. With
the previous result, one finds
white wine from the concentration of the
the pOH with equation 8 to then apply the equation
components that define the quality of the product
9 and find the pH.
criteria) such as acetic acid in the
vinegar and tartaric acid in wine.
pOH = - log ¿ Ecu. 8
5. QUESTIONS
pH + pOH = 14.00 [Ecclesiastes 9]

What is the theoretical pH of the equivalence point in the When solving the equation, the theoretical pH at the point of
evaluation of vinegar? the equivalence in the valuation of vinegar is 8.6. At
The neutralization is completed at the point of analyze this value, it can be noted that the indicator that
equivalence y he they produce this value covers is phenolphthalein with an interval of
−3
2.15x10 mol CH3COONa in 76.9 mL of solution, turn of 8.2-10; therefore, if a good one is made
this volume of solution is equal to the sum of 21.9 valuation is likely that the endpoint is not very
mL of NaOH used in the titration, 25.00 mL of far from the point of equivalence. This means that
vinegar and 30 mL of distilled water that was added to the it is important to choose an appropriate indicator that fits
vinegar solution before the titration; this forms according to the color change in the turning interval
a 0.028M solution of CH 3 COO NaTo solve that includes the pH at the equivalence point, otherwise the
to the question, it is necessary to rephrase it as follows the reaction will not be carried out in its entirety and it
I would work with incorrect data.
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acid in vinegar?
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