How are acidity and alkalinity calculated in AquaChem v5.1?
Alkalinity calculation: The acid-neutralizing (alkaline) component of most samples relates to the carbonate species (i.e. HCO3 and CO3). In most cases, Alkalinity = HCO3 + 2CO3, expressed as HCO3. Generally alkalinity is expressed in mg/L of CaCO3, so multiply by the molar ratio (61/100) and then multiply by two since CO3 has twice the acid neutralizing capacity as HCO3. This is the conversion for bicarbonate. To convert for carbonate (CO3) simply multiply by the molar ratio (60/100) for CO3 Acidity Calculation: This is the base neutralizing capacity, a measure of the amount of acid in a sample. Generally, it relates to the concentration of H2CO3 which will need to be multiplied by molar ratio and divided by two to express this as CaCO3.
