A Titration Method for Standardization of Aqueous Sodium Chlorite Solutions Using Thiourea Dioxide.

Accurate and cost-effective methods for the analysis of oxychlorine compounds in water are critical to modern chlorine-based water treatment. With alternatives to elemental chlorine and hypochlorite bleaches growing in popularity, simple quantification methods for the disinfectant chlorine dioxide (ClO 2 ) in water, as well as chlorite (ClO 2 - ) and chlorate (ClO 3 - ), which are commonly used precursors in ClO 2 generation, are required. However, currently, regulated standard methods require specialized equipment and do not effectively discriminate between molecular and ionic species. In this contribution, we present a simple titration-based method for chlorite determination in water using commercially available and easy-to-handle reagents. Specifically, chlorite is reduced with a slight excess of thioureadioxide (TUD). The remaining reductant is then back-titrated against a known amount of potassium permanganate, affording calculatable chlorite concentrations through measured consumption of a reductant and a clear visual endpoint upon accumulation of excess KMnO 4 . Straightforward methods for chlorite standardization with reasonable error and accuracy for field and/or lab application have the potential to greatly enhance quality assurance and therefore assist in resource deployment in water treatment.