Introduction:

Phosphorus is the eleventh most common element

found on Earth, and it usually appears as phosphate. In
its natural state, phosphate rocks consist of various
minerals, including fluorapatite (3Ca3(PO4)·CaF2),
chlorapatite (2Ca3(PO4)·CaCl2), hydroxyapatite
(3Ca3(PO4)2·Ca(OH)2), and calcium iron phosphate
(Ca2Fe(PO4)·4H2O) Among these the main source of
phosphorus is fluorapatite. To extract phosphorus from
this ore, it is first crushed into smaller pieces, and then
it is heated with sand and coke in a special furnace at
about 1500 degrees Celsius.
The key reaction is –
2Ca3 (PO4) 2 + 6SiO2 + 10C → 6CaSiO3 + 10CO + P4

The white product can turn into red phosphorus if you

heat it to 400 degrees Celsius for a few hours.
Phosphates are used in detergents as builders, mainly
in the forms of sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium
pyrophosphate. However, environmentalists are worried
about the overuse of phosphates as water softeners
because they can pollute water. When phosphates from
household wastewater go through sewage systems,
they end up in rivers and lakes. This causes bacteria to
grow too much, which uses up the oxygen in the water
and can lead to fish dying. Additionally, these
phosphates can cause a lot of water plants to grow.
When those plants die, they decay and create a bad
smell, which can also harm the fish.
Excessive phosphates can speed up the natural aging
process of lakes, a phenomenon called eutrophication.
These phosphates get into waterways mainly from
runoff from farms, where fertilizers are used, as well as
from waste produced by humans and animals. One of
the biggest contributors of phosphorus to the
environment is synthetic detergent, which has
phosphate compounds that help soften water, raise its
pH, and improve how well it cleans. Back in the mid-
1960s, many rivers and lakes across the country were
turning green and getting overrun with plant growth. It
was later found that the main cause of these harmful
changes in water quality was the high amounts of
phosphorus found in sewage from homes and cities.

The main reason for the phosphorus pollution in water

was the phosphates found in laundry detergents. Back
in the late 1960s, people were really worried that lakes
and rivers in many countries were getting dirtier every
day, and they believed that phosphate detergents were
the primary reason of the problem. In fact, about half of
the phosphorus that ended up in lakes Erie and Ontario
came from city and factory sources, with 50% to 70% of
that coming from detergents. Similarly, more than half
of the phosphorus entering the Potomac estuary also
came from detergents in waste from cities and
industries. It was widely accepted that detergents
made up around 50% of all wastewater across the
country.
Detergent is a cleaning product that helps remove dirt
from different surfaces. It works as a surfactant, which
means it can break up and lift away unwanted
substances from dirty areas and keep them suspended
in water. Usually, when we talk about detergents, we
mean synthetic ones, which are made in a lab instead
of being created from fats and oils. One of the best
things about synthetic detergents is that they clean
better and don’t get used up by hard water, thanks to
their ability to dissolve calcium and magnesium ions
more effectively.

Phosphorus is a key nutrient for plants and is found all

over the environment. However, when it’s in water, it
can lead to too much growth of microbes, which is not a
good thing. Because of this, figuring out how much
phosphorus is in the water is really important for
scientists who study chemicals and freshwater
ecosystems. The main sources of phosphorus include
things like detergents, sewage, and fertilizers. In fact,
the maximum safe level of total inorganic phosphate in
water is set between 0.03 and 0.40 mg per dm³.

Procedure:
This analysis has two main steps. First, the
tripolyphosphate needs to be broken down into
phosphate through a process called hydrolysis. After
that, the solution has to be diluted and mixed with a
special chemical called ammonium vanadomalayaite,
which creates a yellow compound when it reacts with
phosphate. The brightness of the yellow colour shows
how much phosphate is in the solution. To figure this
out, we use a spectrophotometer and compare the
results to a calibration curve

Preparation of the Detergent Sample:

1. Place 1.0 g of detergent in a 125 ml Erlenmeyer

flask. Add one drop of antifoaming agent and 25 ml of
15% sulfuric acid. Put excess H2SO4 in the aqueous
waste container.
2. Cover the flask with an inverted beaker or watch
glass. Suspend the flask in a larger beaker of water,
which contains a few boiling chips, on a hot plate in the
hood.
3. Boil the water for 30 minutes, replenishing
evaporated water as needed. Allow to cool and transfer
the contents to a 250 ml volumetric flask. Rinse out the
flask several times with distilled water, pouring the
rinses into the volumetric flask. Finally, dilute the
solution to the mark with distilled water. Invert and mix
thoroughly.
4. Use a 2.0 ml pipette to transfer 2.0 ml of this solution
to a 100 ml volumetric flask and fill to the mark with
distilled water. This is the dilute phosphate solution to
be used in the color development step. (Rinse the
pipette with distilled water as soon as you are done
with it)

Color Development:
1. Use a 10.0 ml pipet to measure out 10.0 ml of the
dilute phosphate solution from the detergent. Put into a
50 ml beaker.
2. Likewise, measure out 10.0 ml of each of the four
standard solutions and put into 50 ml beakers.

3. Use a 5.0 ml pipette to add 5.0 ml of ammonium

vanadomolybdate solution to each beaker. Stir the
solutions
and allow 10 minutes for the color to develop. (It is very
important that this pipette be rinsed with distilled water
as soon as you are done with it. When the experiment
is complete, these solutions should be disposed of in
the aqueous waste container. Excess ammonium
vanadomolybdate should also go into the aqueous
waste container)

The Analysis of the Solutions :

1. Turn on a spectrophotometer and let it warm up for
at least 15 minutes.
2. Set the wavelength to 415 nm.
3. With nothing in the sample chamber, adjust the
meter to read 0% transmittance with the left-hand
knob.
4. Insert a cuvette with distilled water. Close the cover
and set the meter to 100% Transmittance with the
right- hand knob.
5. Measure the absorbance of each of the four standard
solutions and your unknown solution. Record these
absorbance with the corresponding % phosphorus listed
on the label. These percentages correspond directly to
levels of phosphorus present in detergents

Results and Discussion:

The plot for the standard phosphate solution showed a
clear linear relationship between the absorbance and
the concentration of phosphate, which ranged from
0.30 to 7.50 mg/dm³. The straight line started at the
origin, and the equation for this line had a very high
correlation of 0.9997. We also looked at how changes in
ionic strength affected the absorption process, and it
turned out that ionic strength didn't impact the method
at all. This is illustrated in the graph showing
absorbance versus ionic strength. Additionally, we
examined how pH levels influenced the results, and the
findings indicated that strict control of pH isn't
necessary for this type of analysis.
When looking at the phosphate levels in different
detergent samples from both local and foreign brands,
it was found that the amounts of phosphates varied a
lot between companies and countries. The phosphate
levels in the local detergents were between 0.0100 ±
0.001 and 0.0662 ± 0.001, while the foreign detergents
had levels ranging from 0.0047 ± 0.001 to 0.0305 ±
0.000. By closely examining Tables 1 and 2, it was clear
that local brands like Om, Bb, Br, Bp, and Ar had higher
phosphate percentages of 0.0662%, 0.0462%,
0.0460%, 0.0529%, and 0.0415%, compared to foreign
brands like Ps, Td, Lk, Ta, Dm, Bg, Bs, Kn, and Lb, which
had lower percentages of 0.00473%, 0.0423%,
0.0272%, 0.00680%, 0.00491%, 0.0255%, 0.0305%,
and 0.0064%.
Conclusion:
The findings showed that local detergents have a
higher amount of phosphate compared to those from
other countries. There was also a noticeable difference
in phosphate levels between the local and foreign
detergents. This study found that using these products
regularly could lead to more phosphate being released
into the soil and water bodies like ponds, lakes, and
rivers. Too much phosphorus can cause problems like
eutrophication, which harms our water sources.
therefore, to promote lake/river recovery and improve
trophic status, it is recommended that phosphorus
loads entering surface waters are reduced.

References:
1. M. Philip, Advanced Chemistry (Physical and
Industrial) Published in South Asia by Foundation Books
New Delhi (2003) p. 168.
2. Chris Knud-Hansen, Conflict Research Consortium
(1994)