Titration: Some History
In 1855, the German chemist, Friedrich Mohrn, defined titration as the “weighing without scale” method, because this process allows determination of the concentration of a sample without using complex instrumentation. A manual titration requires high accuracy and precision, both in the preparation of the material, and the use of different precisely dosed reagents. The operation must be repeated at least 3 times to obtain a reliable measured value. This procedure makes the manual analytical technique very long and fastidious. On the other hand, the infinite applications that titration presents, can’t be neglected, both for the organic and inorganic parameters. In some applications, for example in the food industry, the determination of the content of sulphur dioxide in must and wine, and the level of acidity in cheese are still determined manually using the Soxhlet method. See the table below for other applications.
Food Industry
Acidity
Chloride
pH
SO² free and total
Sugar
Peroxide
Fatty Acids
Vitamine C
Acetic Acid
Relative Humidity
Petrochemical
TBN
Br² Index
Chloride
Sulphide
Mercaptan
Pharmaceutical
Titration with HClO4
Ca²+, Mg²+
Carbonate
Enzymatic Determinations
Water Analysis
pH
Conductivity
Alcalinity
Chloride
Hardness
COD
Sulfate
Ammonia
Fluoride
Nitrate
Plating Industry
Ag+
Ni²+
Zn²+
Cr³+, Cu²+, etc