1.

1 TITLE :

Design of an ion exchange unit

1.2 AIM

To design a water softening system

1.3 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

To design an ion exchange softener to eliminate calcium carbonate hardness from…. To….

1.4 SCOPE

1.5 PROBLEM STATEMENT

From the cooling tower project it was observed that the chief cause of cooling tower inefficiency was
poor water quality. The poor water quality which had a significant amount of TDS and hardness caused
blockages of the tower packing reducing cooling efficiency.

1.6 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

With the adjustment of water quality, tower performance will increase and energy consumption of
utilities like fans is decreased. Adjustment of water quality increases life service of cooling tower
equipment and piping. Water softeners realize a drastic reduction in maintenance, chemical feed
quantity and volume of water required for operation.

1.7 BACKGROUND THEORY

1.8 METHODOLOGY

1. Obtain parameters required for design of the ion exchange plant.

Parameters required include feed water analysis. At BOC there are two sources of water i.e. municipal
and borehole water. For the design of the water softener the most probable case of borehole water use
is going to be used. In most cases borehole softeners can soften municipal water but not the other way
round. Ions to be analyzed include Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl- ,SO4- and any other ions present.

Production flow rates, required quality of the water are the other parameters required.

2 Determine cycle length and regeneration technology to be used

3 Calculate dimensions of vessel
4 Select suitable resins for the ion exchange unit
5 Cost analysis.
2.1 PARAMETERS FOR THE WATER SOFTENING UNIT

2.1.1FEED WATER ANALYSIS

Parameters required to be known for feed water analysis include salinity, suspended solids,
temperature, pH value ,organic substances in water and the total hardness to be removed. Ion exchange
is suitable for low concentrations of salinity .In high concentrations of salinity for example 1000 ppm
CaCO3 other water treatment methods should be used for example Reverse Osmosis. At high salinity, the
cycles become very short, regenerant consumption increases and in extreme cases the water required
for regeneration may exceed the volume of treated water [1].

Ideally feed water to an ion exchanging unit should be free of solids. It is necessary to ensure that
mechanical filters ahead of the ion exchange unit are working effectively. Suspended solids cause high
leakages, high pressure drop and short runs. The table below shows the maximum load per cycle that
different systems can handle.

System Max. load per cycle

Co-flow 6 kg/m2
Split-flow 6 kg/m2
RFR hold-down 2 kg/m2
Condensate 2 kg/m2
UpcoreTM & similar 0.5 kg/m2
AmberpackTM & similar 0.2 kg/m2
ADITM, ADNTM 0.1 kg/m2

Temperature and pH of the feed water affect the type of resin to be chosen. Cation resins cannot
operate at very low pH because they will be regenerated and unable to exchange with other ions. Anion
resins are regenerated at very high pH. Resins operate within pH limits. The table below shows pH limits
for different resins.

Type of resin pH range

WAC 6 to 14
SAC 4 to 14
WBA 0 to 7
SBA 0 to 9
Operating pH range

Where WAC is…..SAC is…..WBA is….SBA is….

Temperature- Cationic resins can withstand high temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius or more but some
anionic resins are affected by temperature. Styrenic SBA resins should not be operated at temperatures
above 35 degrees Celsius as they regenerate themselves and prevent ion exchange. Temperature of
feed water is thus needed in choosing resin.

Organic substances interfere with ion exchange and result in fouling. Organic substances cause shorter
run times. The amount of organic substance affects the choice of resin. Depending on the resin type
there is a certain load that the resin can handle. Organic substances usually affect anion exchange
resins.

From the water analysis you are then able to select the appropriate softener design.

From the water analysis we desire to obtain …

2.1.2 PRODUCTION FLOW RATES