TWO MARK QUESTIONS WITH WATER

1. Water and its Treatment

1. Define Taste and Odour.

Taste

Taste is the sensation of flavour perceived in the mouth and throat on contact with a
substance.

Odour

Odour is a smell (or) scent caused by one (or) more volatilized chemical compounds that are
generally found in low concentration.

2. What is meant by turbidity ?

Turbidity is the reduction of clarity of natural water due to the presence of finely divided,
insoluble impurities suspended in water.

3. What is the significance of pH in water?

(i) pH determines the solubility (amount that can be dissolved in water).

(ii) It also determines the biological availability (amount that can be utilized by aquatic life).

(iii) A rise (or) fall in pH can indicate chemical pollution (or) acid rain. Many animals cannot
live in water at a pH level below 5 (or) above 9.

4. Define hardness.

Hardness is the property (or) characteristics of water, which does not produce lather with
soap.

5. What is BOD.

BOD is defined as, “the amount of free oxygen required by bacteria for the biological
oxidation of the organic matter under aerobic conditions at 20°C for a period of 5 days”.

6. What is the significance of BOD.(APJAKTU, Jan 2016)

(i) It indicates the amount of decomposable organic matter present in the sewage.

(ii) It enables us to determine the degree of pollution at any time in the sewage stream.

(iii) Lesser the BOD, better is the quality of water. ie. the water sample with BOD of less
than 3 ppm is considered as pure water, whereas the water more than 4 ppm is considered as
polluted water.

7. Define COD.

COD is defined as, "the measure of amount of oxygen required to chemically oxidise all the
oxidisable impurities present in the sewage using an oxidising agent like acidified K 2Cr2O7":

8. What are the advantages of COD.

(i) Determination of COD is carried out only in 3 hours, but determination of BOD is carried
out after 5 days.

(ii) It measures both the biologically oxidisable and biologically inert organic matter.
9. What is chlorination.

The process of adding chlorine to water is called chlorination. Chlorination can be done by
the following methods.

(a) By adding chlorine gas

(b) By adding chloramine

(c) By adding bleaching powder

10. What is sterilisation.

The process of destroying the harmful bacteria’s is known as sterilisation or disinfection. The
chemicals used for this purpose are called disinfectants.

11. What is break-point chlorination? Explain

Break point chlorination is the point at which all the impurities are removed and free chlorine
begins to appear.

12. What is blow-down operation?

Blow-down operation is a process of removing a portion of concentrated water by fresh water

13. Define desalination.

(Coim AU June 2008) The process of removing common salt (sodium chloride) from the
water is known as desalination. The water containing dissolved salts with a peculiar salty or
brackish taste is called brackish water.

14. Write the principle involved in the desalination of water by reverse osmosis. (A.U.
(Chem-II) Dec 2006)

What is meant by 'Reverse osmosis'? How is it applied in the desalination of water?

If pressure in excess of osmotic pressure is applied on the higher concentration side, the
solvent flow is reversed ie., solvent flows from higher concentration to lower concentration.
This process is called reverse osmosis.

Salt water is taken as higher concentration and water is taken as solvent. If pressure is applied
on the salt water, the water flows from salt water to water side.

15. Name the method which separate both ionic and non-ionic impurities from water.
[A.U. Nov.96]

Reverse osmosis process.

16. Name some of the membranes employed in reverse osmosis process. State the
advantages of this process. [A.U. Dec.97]

Example: Cellulose acetate, cellulose butrate.

Advantages

(i) It removes ionic as well as non-ionic, colloidal impurities.

(ii) The life time of the membrane is high and it can be replaced within few minutes.
17. What are the advantages of reverse osmosis method.

(i) The life time of the membrane is high, and it can be replaced within few minutes.

(ii) It removes ionic as well as non-ionic, colloidal impurities.

(iii) Due to low capital cost, simplicity, low operating, this process is used for converting sea
water into drinking water.

18. Why is water softened before using in boiler? (A.U. June 2007, May 2017)

If hard water obtained from natural sources is fed directly into the boilers, the following
troubles may arise.

1. Scale and sludge formation.

2. Priming and foaming (carry over).

3. Caustic embrittlement.

4. Boiler corrosion.

19. What are scales and sludges? (TNV AU May 2009)

1. Sludge

If the precipitate is loose and slimy it is called sludge. Sludge’s are formed by substances like
MgCl2, MgCO3, MgSO4 and CaCl2. They have greater solubility in hot water than cold water.

2. Scale

On the other hand, if the precipitate forms hard and adherent coating on the inner walls of the
boiler, it is called scale. Scales are formed by substances like Ca(HCO3)2, CaSO4 and MgCl2.

20. Mention any two disadvantages of formation of deposits in steam boilers (A.U. Dec
2015)

Scales act as thermal insulators. It decreases the efficiency of boiler. Any crack developed on
the scale, leads to explosion.

21. What is meant by priming and foaming? How can they be prevented. (A.U Oct. 98)

Priming is the process of production of wet steam. Priming can be prevented by controlling
the velocity of steam and keeping the water level lower.

Foaming is the formation of stable bubbles above the surface of water. Foaming can be
prevented by adding coagulants like sodium aluminate and antifoaming agents like synthetic
polyamides.

22. What is meant by priming and mention its causes (AUT, TNU Jan 2011)

Priming is the process of production of wet steam. Priming is caused by

(i) High steam velocity.

(ii) Very high water level in the boiler.

(iii) Sudden boiling of water.

23. List two disadvantages of using hard water in boilers. (AUT TNV June 2011, May
2015)

1. Scale and sludge formation

2. Priming and foaming (carry over)

3. Caustic embrittlement

4. Boiler corrosion

24. Mention any two compounds that cause caustic embrittlement in boilers. (AU June
2014)

Alkali metal carbonates and bicarbonates like Na2CO3, K2CO3, NaHCO3 , KHCO3

25. What is meant by caustic embrittlement? How is it prevented. ([Link] 2007, AU Dec
2009, Jan 2010, Dec 2015, May 2016)

Caustic embrittlement means intercrystalline cracking of boiler metal.

Prevention

Caustic embrittlement can be prevented by

(i) using sodium phosphate as softening agent instead of sodium carbonate.

(ii) by adding tannin, lignin to the boiler water, which blocks the hair cracks.

26. Indicate the reasons for boiler corrosion (Coim. A.U. 2008)

Boiler corrosion arises due to the presence of

(i) dissolved oxygen,

(ii) dissolved carbon dioxide,

(iii) dissolved salts.

27. What are the requisites of drinking and boiler feed water? [A.U. Nov.2001]

(i) Boiler feed water

1. Must have zero hardness and free from dissolved gases like O2, CO2.

(ii) Drinking water

1. pH of water should be in the range of 7.0 – 8.5.

2. Total hardness and dissolved solids of water should be less than 500 ppm.

28. Define softening of water. How is it carried out.

The process of removing hardness producing salts from water is known as softening (or)
conditioning of water.

Softening of water can be done in two methods

29. Soft water is not DM water whereas DM water is soft water - Justify.

The soft water, produced by lime-soda and zeolite processes, does not contain hardness
producing Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, but it will contain other ions like Na +, K+, SO2-4, Cl- etc. On the
other hand D.M. (Demineralised) water does not contain both anions and cations.

30. What are the advantages of ion-exchange process.

(i) Highly acidic or alkaline water can be treated by this process.

(ii) The water obtained by this process will have very low hardness (nearly 2 ppm).

31. How is exhausted resin regenerated in ion-exchange process. (Coim A.U. Feb 2010)

When the cation exchange resin is exhausted, it can be regenerated by passing a solution of
dil HCl or dil H2SO4.

RCa + 2HCl → RH2 + CaCl2

RNa + HCl → RH+ NaCl

Similarly, when the anion exchange resin is exhausted, it can be regenerated by passing a
solution of dil NaOH.

R'Cl2 + 2NaOH → R'(OH)2 + 2NaCl

32. Give some examples for cation exchange resin.

(i) Sulphonated coals.

(ii) Sulphonated polystyrene.

33. Give some examples for anion exchange resin.

(i) Cross - linked quaternary ammonium salts.

(ii) Urea - formaldehyde resin.

34. How is boiler corrosion, due to dissolved oxygen, removed.

Sodium sulphite, hydrazine are some of the chemicals used for removing dissolved oxygen
from water.

2Na2SO3 + O2 → 2Na2SO4

N2H4 + O2 → N2 + 2H2O

35. Name the gases dissolved in water that cause corrosion?

(i) Dissolved oxygen (DO)

DO in water attacks the boiler material at higher temperature.

4Fe + 6H2O + 3O2 → 4Fe (OH)3 ↓

(ii) Dissolved carbon dioxide

Dissolved CO2 in water produces carbonic acid, which is acidic and corrosive in nature.
CO2 + H2O → H2CO3

36. How does carbon dioxide cause boiler corrosion.

Dissolved carbon dioxide in water produces carbonic acid, which is acidic and corrosive in
nature.

CO2 + H2O → H2CO3

Carbon dioxide gas is also produced from the decomposition of bicarbonate salts present in
water.

37. What are ion exchange resins? (AUT TNU June 2010)

Ion exchange resins are long chain, cross linked, insoluble organic polymers with a
microporous structure. The functional groups attached to the chains are responsible for the
ion exchanging properties.

38. What are the disadvantages of ion-exchange process.

(i) Water containing turbidity, Fe and Mn cannot be treated, because turbidity reduces the
output and Fe, Mn form stable compound with the resin.

(ii) The equipment is costly and more expensive chemicals are needed.

39. How is water demineralised in an ion-exchanger? [A.U Nov.2001] When the

water containing ions (both anion and cation) are passed through ion exchange columns, it
absorbs all the ions (anions and cations) as shown below.

Cation exchanger: R(H)2 + CaCl2 → RCa + 2HCI

Anion exchanger: R(OH) 2 + 2HCI → RCl2 + 2H2O.

40. What is meant by internal conditioning of water. (A.U May 2014)

Internal conditioning is the process which involves the removal of scale forming substance by
adding chemicals directly into the boiler.

41. Explain the function of a coagulant with example.

When the coagulant is added to water, it gets hydrolysed to form a gelatinous precipitate of
coagulatant Al(OH)3. The gelatinous precipitate, Al(OH) 3, entraps the finely divided and
colloidal impurities, settles to the bottom and can be removed easily.

42. What is phosphate conditioning (Coim A.U. Feb 2010)

Scale formation can be avoided by adding sodium phosphate. It is used in high pressure
boilers. The phosphate reacts with Ca2+ and Mg2+ salts to give soft sludges of calcium &
magnesium phosphates.

3 CaSO4 + 2 Na3PO4 → Ca3(PO4)2 + 3Na2SO4

43. What are boiler compounds? Mention two different boiler compounds and their
actions. [May 2001, May 2015]
Scale forming substances can be removed by adding chemicals directly to the boiler. These
chemicals are called boiled compounds.

Examples: Sodium carbonate and sodium phosphate.

(i) CaSO4 + Na2CO3 → CaCO3 + Na2SO4.

(ii) 3CaSO4 + 2Na3PO4 → Ca3 (PO4)2 + 3Na2SO4.

44. What is calgon conditioning? How is it functioning in water treatment? (TCY AU July
2008) (Chen A.U. June 2005, Jan 2010)

Calgon is sodim hexa meta phosphate Na2 [Na4 (PO3)6]. This substance interacts with
calcium ions forming a highly soluble complex and thus prevents the precipation of scale
forming salt.

2CaSO4 + Na2 [Na4 (PO3)6] → Na2 [Ca2 (PO3)6] + 2Na2SO4

45. Distinguish between internal and external conditioning of water. (A.U. Dec 2014)

External treatment

1. It is expensive

2. No chemicals are used

3. It is carried out before feeding the water into the boiler.

4. It is used for high pressure boilers.

5. Blow down operation is not required.

Internal treatment

1. It is cheap

2. Chemicals are used

3. It is carried out within the boiler.

4. It is used for low pressure boilers.

5. It requires blow down operation.

46. Why calgon conditioning is better than phosphate conditioning? (A.U. June 2016)

In calgon conditioning calgon forms highly soluble complex, but in phosphate conditioning,
it gives sludge. So periodical disposal of sludge is important in phosphate conditioning, but in
calgon conditioning no problem of disposal.