Chlorine Concentration
Determination Using DPD
Tablets and Mohr’s
Method
To determine amount of the various forms of
chlorine by using the DPD tablets and Mohr’s
methods (titration).
Chlorination is the most commonly used
method of disinfection. Although there are
alternatives like ozone, chlorine is an
inexpensive and a powerful oxidizing agent.
The key reactions are:
Cl2 + H2O < = > HOCl + H+ + Cl-
HOCl < = > H+ + OCl-
Together, HOCl and OCl- are called free
available chlorine.
The two most common methods for
measuring the chlorine residual in water are
the titration method and the DPD method.
The titration method is suitable for
measuring total chlorine concentrations
greater than 1 mg/L. The DPD method can
measure lower concentrations of total
chlorine residual (down to 0.1 mg/L) and can
measure individual chlorine species.
In the Mohr’s method (titration) the chloride ion
concentration is determined using a solution by
titration with silver nitrate. As the silver nitrate
solution is slowly added, a precipitate of silver
chloride forms.
Ag+(aq) + Cl–(aq) → AgCl(s)
The end point of the titration occurs when all the
chloride ions are precipitated.
Then additional silver ions react with the
chromate ions of the indicator, potassium
chromate, to form a red-brown precipitate of
silver chromate.
2 Ag+(aq) + CrO42–(aq) → Ag2CrO4(s)
DPD NO.1 tablets Chlorometer device
Titration set Graduated cylinder
Silver nitrate solution (0.0141N)
Potassium dichromate indicator (has orange
color)
What are DPD Tablets?
They are used to measure chlorine levels, which is the most
used way of disinfecting the water. These tablets are most
commonly used for swimming pools, drinking water and industrial
process water.
When you use the chlorine to disinfect the water, the goal is to kill
any germs. So you need to leave a small amount of active (Free)
chlorine in the water, this is known as "residual chlorine" which is
important as there will be chlorine available to help disinfect any
further contamination of the water.
It is of vital importance to work out the right amount of chlorine that
needs to be added and too much is a negative to health and waste
money and then too little chlorine can result in their being a high
level of the disease that will cause the pathogens. How much
Chlorine you need can be determined by deducting the residual from
the amount of chlorine that has been added.
There are 3 different DPD tablets that are available
which are
DPD 1: This will measure free chlorine, which is the
cholrine that is in the water to kill any bacteria.
DPD 2: This will measure combind chlorine,
DPD 3: This is used to measure total chlorine only.
These tablets can be reliably used to measure
chlorine levels from 0.001 mg/l t0 10mg/l. So,
when a sample that has a chlorine level of more
than 10 the color will be beached out of the tablet,
there will be a show of a pink color. Then after the
color as gone it will return to its original color. You
can use dilutions to help determine high range of
chlorine levels.
1) Turbidity
2) pH
3) Contact time and temperature
1. Take a sample of drinking water with 100 mL
and put it in a volumetric flask.
2. add 2 mL of chromate indicator.
3. Titrate the sample with 0.0141 N silver nitrate
solution. Although the silver chloride that
forms is a white precipitate, the chromate
indicator initially gives the cloudy solution a
faint lemon-yellow color.
4. The endpoint of the titration is identified as
the first appearance of a red-brown color of
silver chromate.
5. find the chlorine concentration as:
1. Crush the dpd No.1 tablet
2. Add the dpd to a water sample with a
volume of 10ml in a specific vial
3. Prepare a blank sample (as step 2)
4. Put the blank sample in the chlorometer
device (using Cl6 option) and press zero to
calibrate the device
5. put the water sample in the device and
press test then read the residual chlorine
Total [Cl-] (mg/l)=
(V of AgNO3 * N of AgNO3*1000*EW Cl)/Volume of the sample
Residual chlorine (mg/l) is read from the
chlorometer device
Find the combined chlorine (mg/l) =
total chlorine-residual chlorine
Remember that the residual chlorine must be
analyzed during 0.5hr
To consider the water is safe to drink, the
residual chlorine must be (0.3-0.5 mg/l)
To consider the water is tasty, the total
chlorine must be (80-200 mg/l)
