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Basic ion exchange processes

in water treatment Update
07 Jun 2016
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Introduction
The ion exchange technology is used for different water treatment applications:
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Softening (removal of hardness)
De‐alkalisation (removal of bicarbonate)
Decationisation (removal of all cations)
Demineralisation (removal of all ions)
Mixed bed polishing
Nitrate removal
Selective removal of various contaminants

You will find here a description of the above processes, the exchange reactions and the changes in water.
Resin types are described in another page, as well as regeneration methods. See also the general
introduction to ion exchange, and an overview of ion exchange column designs in other pages.

Softening
Natural water contains calcium and magnesium ions (see water analysis) which form salts that are not very
soluble. These cations, together with the less common and even less soluble strontium and barium cations,
are called together hardness ions. When the water evaporates even a little, these cations precipitate. This is
what you see when you let water evaporate in a boiling kettle on the kitchen stove.

Hard water also forms scale in water pipes and in boilers, both domestic and industrial. It may create
cloudiness in beer and soft drinks. Calcium salts deposit on the glasses in your dishwasher if the city water is
hard and you have forgotten to add salt.

Strongly acidic cation exchange resins (SAC, see resin types) used in the sodium form remove these hardness
cations from water. Softening units, when loaded with these cations, are then regenerated with sodium
chloride (NaCl, table salt).

Reactions

Here the example of calcium:

2 R‐Na + Ca++ R 2‐Ca + 2 Na+

R represents the resin, which is initially in the sodium form. The reaction for magnesium is identical.

The above reaction is an equilibrium. It can be reversed by increasing the sodium concentration on the right
side. This is done with NaCl, and the regeneration reaction is:

R 2‐Ca + 2 Na+ 2 R‐Na + Ca++

What happens to the water

SAC (Na)

Raw water Softened water

The water salinity is unchanged, only the hardness has been replaced by sodium. A small residual hardness is
still there, its value depending on regeneration conditions.

Treated water quality (residual hardness)

Co‐flow regeneration: Depends on water composition
and regenerant level
Reverse flow regeneration: < 0.02 meq/l (1 mg/l as CaCO3)

Uses

Examples for the use of softeners:

Treatment of water for low pressure boilers

In Europe, most dishwashers have a softening cartridge at the bottom of the machine
Breweries and soft drink factories treat the water for their products with food grade resins Top

Softening the water does not reduce its salinity: it merely removes the hardness ions and replaces them with
sodium, the salts of which have a much higher solubility, so they don't form scale or deposits.

De‐alkalisation
This particular process uses a weakly acidic cation resin. This resin type is capable of removing hardness from
water when it also contains alkalinity. After treatment, the water contains carbon dioxide, that can be
eliminated with a degasifier tower. The cation resin is very efficiently regenerated with an acid, usually
hydrochloric acid.

Reactions

Here the example of calcium:

2 R‐H + Ca++(HCO3–)2 R 2‐Ca + 2 H + + 2 HCO3–

and the hydrogen cations combine with the birarbonate anions to produce carbon dioxide and water:

H + + HCO3– CO2 + H 2O

What happens to the water

WAC (H)

Raw water Decarbonated water

Recombination of hydrogen and bicarbonate and removal of carbon dioxide with the degasifier:

DEG

Decarbonated water Degassed water

The salinity has decreased. Temporary hardness is gone.

Treated water quality (after degasifier)

Temporary hardness Practically 0
Total hardness = FMA
pH value 6 to 7

Uses

De‐alkalisation is used:

In breweries
In household drinking water filters
For low pressure boilers
As a first step before the SAC exchange in demineralisation

De‐alkalisation reduces the salinity of water, by removing hardness cations and bicarbonate anions.

Decationisation
The removal of all cations is seldom practiced, except as a first stage of the demineralisation process, or
sometimes in condensate polishing where the decationiser precedes a mixed bed unit. A strongly acidic
cation exchange resin (SAC) is used in the H+ form.

Reactions

Here the example of sodium, but all cations react in the same way:

R‐H + Na+ R‐Na + H +

The equilibrium reaction is reversed for regeneration by increasing the hydrogen concentration on the right
side. This is done with a strong acid, HCl or H2SO4:

R‐Na + H + R‐H + Na+

What happens to the water

 SAC (H) DEG

Raw water Decationised water Decat + degassed water

In the second step, a degasifier is used again to remove the carbon dioxide formed by combining the
bicarbonate anions and the released hydrogen cation. The water salinity is reduced, and the water is now
acidic. A small sodium leakage is shown.

Treated water quality (after degasifier)

Total hardness 0
Na (co‐flow regen.) 0.5 to 1 mg/L
Na (reverse flow regen.) < 0.1 mg/L
pH value 2 to 5
FMA Unchanged
CO2 0.2 to 0.3 meq/L
If hardness is not zero, there is a malfunction in the system.

Demineralisation
For many applications, all ions in the water must be removed. In particular, when water is heated to produce
steam, any impurity can precipitate and cause damage. As there are cations and anions in the water, we must
use two different types of resins: a cation exchanger and an anion exchanger. This combined arrangement
produces pure water, as presented in the general introduction. Demineralisation is also called deionisation.
The cation resin is used in the hydrogen form (H+) and the anion resin in the hydroxyl form (OH–), so that the
cation resin must be regenerated with an acid and the anion resin with an alkali.

A degasifier is used to remove the carbon dioxide created after cation exchange when the water contains a
significant concentration of bicarbonate.

The cation resin is usually located before the anion resin: otherwise if the water contains any hardness, it
would precipitate in the alkaline environment created by the OH— form anion resin as Ca(OH)2 or CaCO3,
which have low solubility.

Layout SAC – (DEG) – SBA

Let us first consider a simple demineralisation system comprising a strong acid cation exchange resin in the
H+ form, a degasifier (optional) and a strong base anion exchange resin in the OH– form. The first step is
decationisation as shown above:

R SAC‐H + Na+ R SAC‐Na + H +

With calcium insead of sodium (also valid for magnesium and other divalent cations):

2 R SAC‐H + Ca++ (R SAC)2‐Ca + 2 H +

In the second step, all anions are removed with the strong base resin:

R SBA‐OH + Cl– R SBA‐Cl + OH –

The weak acids created after cation exchange, which are carbonic acid and silicic acid (H2CO3 and H2SiO3) are
removed in the same way:

R SBA‐OH + HCO3– R SBA‐HCO3– + OH –

And finally, the H+ ions created in the first step react with the OH– ions of the second step to produce new
molecules of water. This reaction is irreversible:

H + + OH – H 2O

What happens to the water

1: Cation exchange removing all cations (as in decationisation) followed by degassing:

SAC (H) DEG

Raw water Decationised water Decat + degassed water

2: Anion exchange removing all anions (strong and weak acids):
 SBA (OH)

Decat + degassed water Demineralised water

Treated water quality

Conductivity (co‐flow regen.) 5 to 25 µS/cm
Conductivity (reverse flow regen.) < 1 µS/cm
Silica residual (co‐flow) 50 to 200 µg/L
Silica residual (reverse flow) 5 to 40 µg/L
Sodium residual See decationisation above
pH value In principle > 7
Don't use pH as a control parameter

Demineralised water is completely free of ions, except a few residual traces of sodium and silica, because
the SAC and SBA resins have their lowest selectivity for these. With a simple demineralisation line
regenerated in reverse flow, the treated water has a conductivity of only about 1 µS/cm, and a silica residual
between 5 and 50 µg/L depending on the silica concentration in the feed and on regeneration conditions.
Note that the pH value should not be used as a process control, as it is impossible to measure the pH of a
water with less than say 5 µS/cm conductivity.

Regeneration

The SAC resin is regenerated with a strong acid, HCl or H2SO4:

R‐Na + H + R‐H + Na+

And the SBA resin is regenerated with a strong alkali, NaOH in 99 % of the cases:

R SBA‐Cl + OH – R SBA‐OH + Cl–

Layout WAC/SAC – DEG – WBA/SBA

Because weakly acidic and weakly basic resins offer a high operating capacity and are very easy to
regenerate, they are used in combination with strongly acidic and strongly basic resins in large plants. The
first step with the WAC resin is dealkalisation (removal of bicarbonate hardness), and the second step with
the SAC removes all the remaining cations. A WAC resin is used when both hardness and alkalinity are present
in large relative concentrations in the feed water.

WBA resins remove only the strong acids after cation exchange. They are not capable of removing the weak
acids such as SiO2 and CO2. In the regenerated, free base form, they are not dissociated, so no free OH– ions
are available for neutral anion exchange. On the other hand, their basicity is enough to adsorb the strong
acids created after cation exchange:

R WBA + H +Cl– R WBA.HCl

In the last step, a SBA resin is thus required to remove the weak acids, as shown in the preceding section:

R SBA‐OH + HCO3– R SBA‐HCO3– + OH –

What happens to the water

1 & 2: Cation exchange beginning with the removal of temporary hardness (WAC, as in dealkalisation)
followed by the removal of all remaining cations (SAC):

WAC (H) SAC (H)

Raw water Decarbonated water Decationised water

3 & 4: Anion exchange begining after degassing with the removal of strong acids (WBA) followed by the
removal of weak acids (SBA):

WBA (FB) SBA (OH)

Decat + degassed water Partially demineralised Demineralised water

A full demineralisation line is shown below, with a cation exchange column (WAC/SAC), a degasifier, an anion
exchange column (WBA/SBA), and a polishing mixed bed unit. The use of a weakly acidic resin and the
degasifier column are conditioned by the presence of hardness and alkalinity in the feed water, as explained
in the previous sections.

A demineralisation line (click to enlarge)

Regeneration

Regeneration is done in thoroughfare, which means that the regenerant first goes through the strong resin,
which requires an excess of regenerant, and the regenerant not consumed by the strong resin is usually
sufficient to regenerate the weak resin without additional dosage.

The cation resins are regenerated with a strong acid, preferably HCl, because H2SO4 can precipitate calcium.
The anion resins are regenerated with caustic soda.

Regeneration of the demineralisation line (click to enlarge)

The quality obtained is the same as in the simple SAC‐SBA layout, but because the weak resins are
practicallly regenerated "free of charge", the regenerant consumption is considerably lower. Additionally, the
weak resins have a higher operating capacity than the strong resins, so the total volume of ion exchange
resins is reduced.

Uses

Examples of demineralisation:

Water for high pressure boilers in nuclear and fossil fuelled power stations and other industries
Rinse water used in production of computer chips and other electronic devices
Process water for many applications in the chemical, textile and paper industries
Water for batteries
Water for laboratories

Mixed bed polishing

The last traces of salinity and silica can be removed on a resin bed
where highly regenerated strong acid cation and strong base anion
resins are mixed.

Mixed bed units deliver an excellent treated water quality, but are
complcated to regenerate, as the resins must first be separated by
backwashing before regeneration. Additionally, they require large
amounts of chemicals, and the hydraulic conditions for regeneration
are not optimal. Therefore, mixed beds are usually only used to treat
pre‐demineralised water, when the service run is long.

What happens to the water

Practically nothing is left:

Mixed bed unit in service
and in regeneration

SAC (H) + SBA (OH)

Demineralised water Nothing is left

Mixed bed polishing produces a water with less than 0.1 µS/cm conductivity. With sophisticated design and
appropriate resins, the conductivity of pure water (0.055 µS/cm) can be achieved. Residual silica values can
be as low as 1 µg/L.
The pH value should not be used as a process control, as pH meters are unable to operate at 1 µS/cm
conductivity or below.

Treated water quality

 Conductivity < 0.1 µS/cm
Silica residual 1 to 10 µg/L
pH value Cannot be measured

Uses

Treatment of water pre‐demineralised with ion exchange resins

Polishing of reverse osmosis permeate
Polishing of sea water distillate
Treatment of turbine condensate in power stations
Treatment of process condensate in various industries
Production of ultra‐pure water for the semiconductors industry
Service de‐ionisation (with off‐site regenerated columns)

Nitrate removal
Nitrate can be removed selectively from drinking water using strong base anion resins in the chloride cycle,
i.e. regenerated with a NaCl brine. The reaction is:

R SBA‐Cl + NO3– R SBA‐NO3 + Cl–

What happens to the water

SBA (Cl)

Raw water Denitrated water

Conventional SBA resins can be used, but they also remove sulphate from water. See the selectivity table.
Depending on the resin type, some (selective resins) or all (non‐selective) sulphate is removed. Bicarbonate
is only removed partially at the beginning of the service run.

Treated water quality

Depends on water composition, regenerant level and mode of regeneration.

Use reverse flow regeneration only. Expected NO3 leakage with RFR: 2 to 10 mg/L.
Use IXCalc for accurate estimates. A high sulphate background will increase leakage.

Uses

Mainly municipal water treatment

Selective removal of various other contaminants

Selective removal of metals and other contaminants is mainly used for drinking water and for waste. Many of
these applications require special resins: chelating resin making stable metal complexes, for instance.

Examples

Removal of boron (boric acid) from drinking water

Removal of nitrate from drinking water (shown above)
Removal of perchlorate from drinking water
Removal of heavy metals from waste: Cd, Cr, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn

In many of these applications, a residual concentration in the µg/L range is possible.

Some contaminants are difficult to remove with ion exchange, due to a poor selectivity of the resins.
Examples: As, F, Li. See the periodic system of the elements with some ion exchange data. See also the page
about resin types (selective resins) and a separate page about ion exchange processes for drinking water.

Other information
Abbreviations
Resin types are usually abbreviated in these pages:

SAC: strongly acidic cation exchange resin

WAC: weakly acidic cation exchange resin
SBA: strongly basic anion exchange resin
WBA: weakly basic anion exchange resin

See a table with a complete list of abbreviations and units.

Water
See details about the water analysis as required for the above processes.
A special page is available about drinking water applications.

Ion exchange columns

Various column types are described in a separate page. Degasifiers as well, and basic principles of plant
design.

Regeneration
See details about regeneration processes, quantities and concentrations of regenerants.

Ion exchange reactions

A full page describes reaction equilibrium and chemical reactions of these resins.

© François de Dardel