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Applications: Ion Exchange Is An Exchange of Ions Between Two Electrolytes or Between An Electrolyte Solution and

Ion exchange is a reversible process where ions from an electrolyte solution are exchanged for ions attached to an ion exchange resin or mineral. There are cation exchangers that exchange positively charged ions and anion exchangers that exchange negatively charged ions. Ion exchange is used widely in water purification by exchanging hardness ions like calcium and magnesium for sodium or hydrogen ions. It is also used in industries like pharmaceuticals and nuclear energy to separate similar ions or purify metals and actinides.

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33 views

Applications: Ion Exchange Is An Exchange of Ions Between Two Electrolytes or Between An Electrolyte Solution and

Ion exchange is a reversible process where ions from an electrolyte solution are exchanged for ions attached to an ion exchange resin or mineral. There are cation exchangers that exchange positively charged ions and anion exchangers that exchange negatively charged ions. Ion exchange is used widely in water purification by exchanging hardness ions like calcium and magnesium for sodium or hydrogen ions. It is also used in industries like pharmaceuticals and nuclear energy to separate similar ions or purify metals and actinides.

Uploaded by

azpuk
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ion exchange 

is an exchange of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and


a complex. In most cases the term is used to denote the processes of purification, separation, and
decontamination of aqueous and other ion-containing solutions with solidpolymeric or mineralic 'ion
exchangers'.
Typical ion exchangers are ion exchange resins (functionalized porous
orgel polymer), zeolites, montmorillonite, clay, and soil humus. Ion exchangers are either cation
exchangers that exchange positivelycharged ions (cations) or anion exchangers that exchange
negatively charged ions (anions). There are also amphoteric exchangers that are able to exchange both
cations and anions simultaneously. However, the simultaneous exchange of cations and anions can be
more efficiently performed in mixed beds that contain a mixture of anion and cation exchange resins, or
passing the treated solution through several different ion exchange materials.
Ion exchangers can be unselective or have binding preferences for certain ions or classes of ions,
depending on their chemical structure. This can be dependent on the size of the ions, their charge, or their
structure. Typical examples of ions that can bind to ion exchangers are:

 H+ (proton) and OH− (hydroxide)


 Single charged monoatomic ions like Na+, K+, or Cl−
 Double charged monoatomic ions like Ca2+ or Mg2+
 Polyatomic inorganic ions like SO42− or PO43−
 Organic bases, usually molecules containing the amino functional group -NR2H+
 Organic acids, often molecules containing -COO− (carboxylic acid) functional groups
 Biomolecules which can be ionized: amino acids, peptides, proteins, etc.
Ion exchange is a reversible process and the ion exchanger can be regenerated or loaded with desirable
ions by washing with an excess of these ions.

[edit]Applications

Ion exchange column, used for protein purification.

Ion exchange is widely used in the food & beverage, hydrometallurgical, metals finishing, chemical &
petrochemical, pharmaceutical, sugar & sweeteners, ground & potable water, nuclear, softening &
industrial water, semiconductor, power, and a host of other industries.
Most typical example of application is preparation of high purity water for power engineering, electronic
and nuclear industries; i.e. polymeric or mineralic insoluble ion exchangers are widely used for water
softening, water purification, water decontamination, etc.
Ion exchange is a method widely used in household (laundry detergents and water filters) to produce soft
water. This is accomplished by exchanging calcium Ca2+ and magnesium Mg2+ cations against Na+ or
H+ cations (see water softening).
Industrial and analytical ion exchange chromatography is another area to be mentioned. Ion exchange
chromatography is a chromatographical method that is widely used for chemical analysis and separation
of ions. For example, inbiochemistry it is widely used to separate charged molecules such as proteins. An
important area of the application is extraction and purification of biologically produced substances such as
proteins (amino acids) and DNA/RNA.
Ion-exchange processes are used to separate and purify metals, including
separating uranium from plutonium and otheractinides, including thorium,
and lanthanum, neodymium, ytterbium, samarium, lutetium, from each other and the otherlanthanides.
There are two series of rare earth metals, the lanthanides and the actinides, both of which families all
have very similar chemical and physical properties. Using methods developed by Frank Spedding in the
1940's, ion-exchange used to be the only practical way to separate them in large quantities, until the
advent of solvent extraction techniques which can be scaled up enormously.
A very important case is the PUREX process (plutonium-uranium extraction process) which is used to
separate theplutonium and the uranium from the spent fuel products from a nuclear reactor, and to be
able to dispose of the waste products. Then, the plutonium and uranium are available for making nuclear-
energy materials, such as new reactor fuel and nuclear weapons.
The ion-exchange process is also used to separate other sets of very similar chemical elements, such
as zirconium andhafnium, which incidentally is also very important for the nuclear industry. Zirconium is
practically transparent to free neutrons, used in building reactors, but hafnium is a very strong absorber of
neutrons, used in reactor control rods.
Ion exchangers are used in nuclear reprocessing and the treatment of radioactive waste.
Ion exchange resins in the form of thin membranes are used in chloralkali process, fuel
cells and vanadium redox batteries. Ion exchange can also be used to remove hardness from water by
exchanging calcium and magnesium ions for hydrogen and chlorine ions in an ion exchange column.
[edit]Other applications
 In soil science, cation exchange capacity is the ion exchange capacity of soil for positively charged
ions. Soils can be considered as natural weak cation exchangers.
 In planar waveguide manufacturing, ion exchange is used to create the guiding layer of
higher index of refraction.
 Dealkalization, removal of alkali ions from a glass surface.
 Chemically strengthened glass, produced by exchanging Na+ for K+ in glass surfaces using
KNO3 melts.

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