I am currently engaged in wastewater management-related work. Can carbonate and bicarbonate concentrations in water be calculated using alkalinity and pH? Please offer any empirical equations relevant to this, if any exist.
The following equations might help, but you should clarify if they are valid or if they should be modified in your case study (depending on the system there are different approxiations).
2 x TA (total alkalinity) = [HCO3^-] + 2 [CO3^-2] + [OH^-] (1)
and [CO3^-2] = K2 [HCO3^-] / [H^+] (2)
Substitute carbonate ion from equation (2) to equation (1).
Also pH = -log [H^+] (3), so you could solve to have the solution for [H^+]
If you then rearrange equation (1) to solve for [HCO3^-] you should be able to calculate the bicarbonate.
I hope this is a good start. More clarifications here:
https://sciencing.com/calculate-bicarbonate-concentration-7251238.html
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