volatile acids

madscientist · Post by **madscientist** » Tue Oct 09, 2001 6:46 pm

Hi,

I currently work as a lab technician in a wastewater treatment plant and I just wanted to ask what type of acids these acidogens create? As a new lab tech, I'm kind of clueless as to how things work around the plant since I'm hired only to run tests and the my co-workers are often too busy to answer my questions thoroughly.

I'm specifically asking for volatile acids (although it would be good if I can also get the names of the non-volatile acids) generated by these acidogens. The reason I ask is because I have been running this test which requires that I distill some supernatant from a digester at a rate of 5 milliliters per minute, so as to draw out the volatile acids. However, it's hard to keep the distillation rate constant since I need to draw out 150 ml in precisely 30 minutes and I have up to now messed up on the experiment. So I'm asking, just to see if the information I get can be of use to me in "engineering" another type of test to measure the acid concentration in the digester. Thanks...

P.S. It comes to me as a surprise that someone would set up a site dedicated to answering anyone's questions. I'm greatly appreciative of this sharing of knowledge.

Post by **Bob** » Thu Oct 25, 2001 9:40 am

Hi madscientist,

Typical acids will include Acetic, Propionic, Butyric, Valeric.

But, regarding methods for testing for each, you are way out of my league. Maybe someone else will stumble in here who can answer your questions.

madscientist · Post by **madscientist** » Thu Nov 01, 2001 2:49 pm

Sorry it took so long to reply back with a thank you. THANK YOU!!!!