Effect of Sodium Carbonate Concentration in Calgon on Hydrometer Analysis Results

Calgon (a combination of sodium hexametaphosphate and sodium carbonate) has proved to be the most effective dispersing agent in determining the grain size distribution of fine-grained soils by means of the hydrometer analysis. Previous research on the effect of the sodium hexametaphosphate content of dispersing agents on the clay contents showed that the addition of sodium carbonate to sodium hexametaphosphate increases its dispersing effectiveness. Hence, Calgon 35:7 was used /recommended by many researchers/methods and proved to be the most effective dispersing agent. Although previous work focusing on the effect of varying the concentration of sodium hexametaphosphate in Calgon has been reported, the effect of the concentration of sodium carbonate in Calgon has not been assessed and reported. For this reason, in this investigation a series of hydrometer test analyses were conducted using the 152H and ASTM 152H: E100 hydrometers with Calgon in ratios of 35:0, 35:20 and 35:30.  It was observed that with any increase in sodium carbonate content beyond 7 grams, the percentage clay content actually decreased tremendously in the case of hydrometer 152H. However, for the other hydrometer, Calgon (35:0) proved to be most effective combination. Thus, the increase in the sodium carbonate content in Calgon, beyond 7 g/ litre, is not recommended.