Abstract

The experiments in this work were subjected to lab-scale ion exchangers unit, consists of two kinds of ion exchangers (strong acid cation exchanger and weak base anion exchangers). The experimental investigation was directed at studying a new method for regenerating the strongly acidic cation exchanger in the demineralized water unit using one concentration of sulfuric acid (5%) directly without any precipitation problems. Experiments show that using sulfuric acid in the regeneration is equally efficient as that of hydrochloric acid solution in the production of dematerialized water (110 bed volume). The first objective of this study was to use sulfuric acid solution instead of hydrochloric acid solution because it is cheaper and non corrosive. The other benefits could be gained from the effluent (sodium hydroxide solution) which comes out of the anion exchanger columns instead of disposing them.

Key words: Cation exchanger, anion exchanger, backwash, regeneration, rinsing.