Sodium Cation Exchange (Zeolite) Water Softening Process A. History
Sodium Cation Exchange (Zeolite) Water Softening Process A. History
Sodium Cation Exchange (Zeolite) Water Softening Process A. History
A. History
The name zeolite comes from the two Greek words zein and lithos
which mean boiling stone. It was first applied by Granstedt, a Swedish
geologist, in 1756 to describe a certain class of natural minerals which
when heated, swelled and gave off their water of hydration. These
zeolites are hydrated double silicates consisting of an alkali or alkali earth
oxide, alumina, silica and water.
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Later work led to the development of a number of other cation exchangers
among which were the sulfonated styrene types. They were made by the
sulfonation of a resin produced in a bead form by copolymerization of
styrene and divinylbenzene. Because of their physical appearance, they
became known as gel resins. Normal capacities and salt consumptions of
these exchangers are 20-27 kgrns/ft3 and .3 - .5 lb/kgrn respectively.
Ions are split into two groups. The cations such as calcium, magnesium,
sodium, hydrogen, iron, etc. have a net positive charge; the anions such
as bicarbonate, carbonate, hydroxide, chloride, sulphate, etc. have a net
negative charge.
In all water supplies, the total amount of cations must be equal to the total
amount of anions after both are mathematically converted to a common
base such as ppm CaCO3.
The raw water contains the ion that is to be removed by ion exchange.
When this unwanted ion comes into contact with the regenerated
exchanger during its service run, it displaces the ion that was attached to
the resin and takes its place on the resin. When a hard water is passed
through a bed of sodium cation exchanger, the calcium and magnesium
are taken up and held by the cation exchanger which simultaneously gives
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up an equivalent amount of sodium in exchange for them. This reaction
may be represented by the following equation:
Calcium and magnesium are removed from the resin in the form of their
chlorides and the resin is simultaneously restored to the sodium form.
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C. Steps of Softener Operation
1. bed expansion releases any accumulation within the resin bed and
fluffs the bed to allow more efficient contact between brine and
resin during the brining step;
The second step in the regeneration cycle is the brining operation. Brine,
prepared from rock salt or evaporated salt containing a minimum of 98%
NaCl, is injected into the water space above the resin bed at a
concentration of 10 wt.% and allowed to flow through the resin bed. The
10% brine concentration may be arrived at either by preparing a 10%
solution directly or by diluting the saturation strength of 26%. Usually, the
latter method is employed. The brine regenerate flow rate must be slow
enough to provide sufficient contact time between the brine and resin, yet
fast enough to prevent channeling of the brine. Usually, this flow rate is in
the order of 1 USGPM/ft3 resin. The total amount of salt required per
regeneration depends on the volume of the resin and the desired capacity
rating of the resin, but is within the range of 5 to 25 lbs./ft3 of resin.
Curves are available from resin suppliers, which relate the capacity rating
of the resin to the pounds of salt required per cubic feet of resin. Once the
regenerate concentration and flow rate, resin volume, and the required
amount of salt are all established, the duration of the brining operation
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may be calculated directly. However, a brine curve should be established
and checked periodically. This involves hydrometer resting of the softener
effluent during the brining stage. If the curve is too narrow, the brine flow
rate should be reduced or brine strength increased.
The third step in the regeneration cycle is the slow rinse. This water flow
rate should be approximately 1 USGPM/ft3 resin. If an eduction system is
used for regeneration, the proper slow rinse flow rate may be obtained by
discontinuing the eduction of saturated brine. The quantity of slow rinse
water required is approximately of the resin bed volume plus the volume
of space between the resin and the distribution laterals. This provides a
plug of slow rinse water which forces the remaining brine completely
through the bed. The duration of the slow rinse may be calculated directly
once the rinse water flow rate, the volume of resin, and the dimensions of
the vessel are established.
The fourth and final step in the regeneration cycle is the fast rinse. This
water flow rate should be performed at approximately 1.5 USGPM/ft3 resin
to completely remove waste brine containing the exchanged cations. The
duration of the rinse is determined by the total hardness in the rinse water
effluent. When the hardness has decreased to less than 1 ppm as
CaCO3, rinsing may be considered complete.
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D. Design of Softeners
V = Vw L (4)
1000K
where V = volume of resin, ft3
Vw = volume of water treated, USG
L = ionic load, grains CaCO3/USG
K = resin exchange capacity3 , kgrns/ft3
The shell of the softener vessel consists of a steel cylinder with heads
dished to correspond with the vessel diameter and a metal thickness to
withstand the operating pressure.
The functions of the underdrain system at the bottom of the softener shell
are as follows:
Layers of graded gravel (coarsest at the bottom and finest at the top),
surmounted by a layer of coarse sand are located above the strainer
system in order to support the resin bed and to assist in the even
distribution of water during all steps of the regeneration cycle as well as
the service cycle.
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Slightly below the top of the straight side of the shell is the wash water
collector which serves, during softening and rinsing, to introduce and
deflect the incoming water and, during backwashing, to collect the
backwash water and deliver it to the outgoing piping. Deflection of the
incoming water is necessary, otherwise it may hollow out a portion of the
resin bed and cause a greater flow through this portion than the rest of the
resin bed.
A short distance above the surface of the resin bed is the brine distribution
system which serves to introduce and uniformly distribute the diluted brine
over the resin bed so that all parts of the bed will come into even contact
with it.
Improper operational controls involve service flow rate; backwash flow rate
and water temperature; regenerant concentration, dosage and flow rate;
slow rinse flow rate and water volume; fast rinse flow rate and volume;
and total hardness levels in the softened water and fast rinse effluent. To
ensure that these controls are properly set, each one should be checked
periodically.
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E. Resin Degradation