Over-neutralization

Definition

Over-neutralization is adding so much base that pH overshoots far past the target, redistributing molecular populations by orders of magnitude. In the chapter pH was driven to 13.4 instead of the target of 6.

It happens when an operator treats pH as linear: a first caustic dose moved pH only from 2.5 to 3.5 while already cutting hydrogen by 90 percent, so the next dose walked into an empty room and teleported the pH. The result was a factor-of-a-million overshoot, violent reactions with dissolved metals, and calcium carbonate precipitating out of solution. Recovery required slowly mixing reserved acid back in, drum by drum, over seven hours.

Related concepts

Carbonate system shift with pH · Neutralization · pH as equilibrium position

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Part of The Blueprint of Water · 🛠️ operations