Ion exchange plant design

Some basic principles

You will not find here a complete plant design manual. Only a few general recommendations to ensure
that an ion exchange system is designed economically and to achieve good performance, and a simple,
but detailed example. Basic column types are shown in another page.

Reputable water treatment companies have their own technologies and design methods. We will cover in
this page some of the basic parameters to consider when designing an ion exchange plant.

These parameters are:

 Feed water analysis

 Production flow rate
 Cycle length
 Required quality of the treated water
 Regeneration technology
 Dimensions of the vessels
 Selection of resin types

This page is mainly focused on demineralisation systems, but most of the principles and
recommendations apply to other ion exchange processes: softening, dealkalisation, nitrate removal etc.

Analysis of the feed water

All ion exchange systems are designed for a given feed water. Some variations of the feed water analysis
are acceptable, and should be taken into account, but an ion exchange system cannot be designed
efficiently for vastly different water types. For instance, a demineralisation system designed for the
treatment of deep well water is completely different from a system designed to treat reverse osmosis
permeate.

The first thing to do is thus obtain a reliable water

analysis. Details are shown in another page.

When the water analysis is not constant, e.g. due to seasonal variations, do not take an "average
composition" as the basis of your design. Instead, use the "most probable" case, design with this water,
and check as a second step what will happen with the "minimum" and "maximum"' waters. All water
analyses must be perfectly balanced, as shown in the example on the right.

The water analysis will determine what resin combination is required, and if a  degasifier should be
considered.
 Production flow rate
It is important to know whether the system will operate at constant or variable flow rate. Some system
designs require a minimum flow rate (e.g. Amberpack TM). Obviously, the system should be able to
operate at both limits.

In general, it is not advisable to operate intermittently, i.e. to stop production in the middle of the run
and re-start it. Treated water quality may be affected after a stop not followed by regeneration.

Cycle length
A short cycle length is desirable in most cases. The practical limit is that the production run should be
at least as long as the regeneration process. As most ion exchange systems are regenerated
automatically, the duration of the production run does not have to be "at least one day" as was the rule
at the time (many decades ago) when the morning shift would regenerate manually every day at 7
o'clock. Efficient systems have been designed with running times as short as 3 hours.

The limits of the running time are also related to resin kinetics. When reading ion exchange resin
product data sheets, you will typically see that the specific flow rate in water treatment should be
between 5 and 50 bed volumes per hour (m /h per m  of resin). At lower flow rates, hydraulic
3 3

distribution in the resin bed may be poor, and at higher flow rates, kinetic effects may affect the speed
of exchange, resulting in both cases in deterioration of the treated water quality.

So in practice the running time must be selected as a function of the following parameters:

 Specific flow rate between 5 and 50 bed volumes per hour (BV/h).
 Mixed bed units should be designed to operate at a minimum of 12 to 15 BV/h.
 Make the system as small as possible for economical reasons (lower investment in hardware and
resins).
 For packed bed systems, ensure that bed compaction is good both in the production phase (e.g.
AmberpackTM) and during regeneration (e.g. UpcoreTM).

With low salinity waters, e.g. when the feed water is good RO permeate, the running time can be
several days. Mixed bed polishers after a primary demineralisation will run for several weeks before
regeneration is required.

See the description of a full cycle.

Treated water quality

In ion exchange the quality of the treated water does not depend much on the feed water analysis.
Factors affecting the treated water quality are essentially related to the regeneration process.

To a minor extend, temperature may affect the residual silica leakage in the treated water: at
temperatures higher than about 50 °C, silica is hardly removed by strongly basic anion exchange resins
(SBA).

Other than that, you can expect the treated water quality of a regeneration system regenerated in
reverse flow to be:

 Conductivity: ~ 1 µS/cm
 Silica: 10 to 25 µg/L

For polishing MB units, conductivity is generally around 0.1 µS/cm, and silica less than 10 µg/L. Well
designed and operated mixed bed polishers can achieve a conductivity close to that of pure water
(0.055 µS/cm) and silica in the single µg/L range, or below.

Regeneration technology
Details of the regeneration are given in a separate page. Another page shows the corresponding column
designs.

Except for very small ion exchange units (and for de-alkalisation with a WAC resin only), plants should
always be designed using reverse flow regeneration. Packed bed columns are particularly useful, as they
offer a compact and economical design, and very good treated water quality. They are normally sized
for relatively short cycles.

One should however pay attention to the following points:

AmberpackTM and other floating bed columns

Those have upflow loading and downflow regeneration. The service flow rate must be high enough to
keep the bed compacted. For SAC resins, that have the highest specific gravity, the linear flow rate must
be comprised between 25 and about 70 m/h (at about 20 °C). Other resins have a lower specific gravity
and are compacted at a lower flow rate, the minimum being about 16 m/h.

UpcoreTM and similar units

With downflow loading and upflow regeneration, the regeneration flow rate must be high enough to
keep the bed compacted. This is achieved using the following tricks:

 An initial short compaction step is performed at about 30 m/h before regenerant injection
 Regenerant concentration may have to be reduced so that the acid solution can be injected at 7
or more m/h in the SAC unit, and the caustic solution at more than 5 m/h in the anion exchange
unit.
 Contact time of the regenerant solution may have to be reduced.

Short contact times and lower regenerant concentration may however affect the efficiency of
regeneration.

Vessel sizing

For a given resin volume, it is generally cheaper to make a tall and

narrow column rather than a wide and short unit: in the illustration, both columns contain the same
resin volume. Column B is cheaper, because the major cost components of the column are the dished
ends and nozzle plates.

There is no limit in height, except that the pressure drop at maximum flow rate should not exceed 100
to 150 kPa (1 to 1.5 bar) at maximum flow rate with clean resins.

When selecting the vessel diameter, the limits of the preceding section (regeneration technology) should
also be considered.

Resin choice
You will have to refer to the resin manufacturer. However, a few general recommendations can be
made:
  Macroporous resins are normally not required for demineralisation or softening
 An exception: all styrenic WBA resins are macroporous
 Special particle sizes are required depending on the design technology:
o uniform or semi-uniform resins are necessary for packed beds
o special grades are required for stratified beds (e.g. StratabedTM or StratapackTM)
o special grades are also required for mixed bed polishers
 When the feed water contains high organics, acrylic anion resins are a good choice

How to calculate by hand, approximately

You can make an approximate calculation by hand even without using a computer program or the
engineering data of the resin manufacturer. The results may be only 20 % precise, but will give you an
idea. In any case, it is a good exercise for understanding the basic principles presented above.

This calculation can be done for softening units and for simple demineralisation trains comprising a
single (strongly acidic) cation exchange resin column an optional degasifier and a single (strongly basic)
anion exchange resin column.

Here is the procedure for a simple demineralisation plant:

1. Examine water analysis (details above)

2. Calculate cation concentration C  [meq/L] c

3. Decide about the use of a degasifier:

If the bicarbonate content is greater than 0.6 to 1.0 meq/L a degasifier may be justified
4. Calculate the anion concentration C  [meq/L]: it acontains
Cl , SO , NO , SiO , HCO  or residual CO  after degasser if any
—
4
=
3
—
2 3
—
2

5. Decide about a reasonable running time t in hours between regenerations

6. Using the flow rate f in m /h calculate the throughput Q [m ]:
3 3

Q = f · t [m ]
3

7. Calculate the ionic load per cycle in eq (concentration in meq/L times throughput in m ): 3

o Cation load [eq] = C  · Q c

o Anion load [eq] = C  · Q a

8. Consider the approximate operating capacity of the resins as follows:

o SAC: cap  = 1.0 ceq/L with HCl regeneration or
SAC: cap  = 0.8 eq/L with H SO  regeneration
c 2 4

o SBA: cap  = 0.5 eq/L a

9. The resin volume V required (in litres) is equal to the ionic load [eq] divided by the operating
capacity [eq/L]:
o SAC: V  = C  · Q / cap  [L]
c c c

o SBA: V  = C  · Q / cap  [L]

a a a

10. At the end of this calculation, we must make sure that the specific flow rate of both resin
columns is compatible with the general recommendations of the resin producer. The specific
flow rate in h  (often expressed in bed volumes per hour BV/h) is equal to the flow rate in m /h
–1 3

divided by the resin volume in m . The usual range is 5 to 50 h . For a compact plant with
3 –1

minimum investment cost, use a specific flow rate around 30 to 35 h . –1

If the specific flow rates calculated from the resin volumes V  and V  are too high, increase the
c a

running time t. If they are too low, reduce the running time t.

This calculation is obviously only approximate, as we have taken in point 8 an estimated operating
capacity for both resins, not taking into account several parameters that, in reality, affect this capacity:
regeneration level, exact water composition, temperature, selected endpoint, etc.

Furthermore, the additional ionic load caused by the quantity of ancillary water required to dilute
regenerants and rinse resins has not been taken into account. Depending on the feed water salinity, this
extra water can increase the ionic load by 2 to 10 %.

Besides, the calculation of WAC/SAC or WBA/SBA resin couples cannot be done by hand, as it requires
iterations for the optimisation of the "overrun".
A precise calculation can be done with a dedicated software, such as IXCalc  for the resins produced by
TM

Dow.

Example
 Using the 10 point procedure described above.

1. Water analysis [meq/L]

Cations   Anions
Ca 3.2   Cl 1.1
Mg 0.7   SO4 0.6
Na 0.9   NO3 0.2
  HCO 2.9
3

Σ Cations 4.8   Σ Anions 4.8

  SiO 2 0.4

2. C  = 4.8 meq/L
c

3. HCO  =3 2.9 meq/L — a degasifier is recommended

Residual CO  after degasifier = 0.25 meq/L
2

4. C  = 1.1 + 0.6 + 0.2 + 0.25 = 2.15 meq/L

a

5. Select running time t = 12 h

6. Flow rate 60 m /h
3

Throughput 60 · 12 = 720 m 3

7. Ionic load
o Cation load [eq] = 4.8 · 720 = 3456 eq
o Anion load [eq] = 2.15 · 720 = 1548 eq
8. Operating capacity
o Cation regeneration with HCl: cap  = 1.0 eq/L c

o Anion regeneration with NaOH: cap  = 0.5 eq/L a

9. Resin volumes
o SAC: V  = 3456 / 1.0 = 3456 L
c

o SBA: V  = 1548 / 0.5 = 3096 L

a

10. Specific flow rate

o SAC: 60 / 3.456 = 16.9 h –1

o SBA: 60 / 3.096 = 19.4 h –1

The specific flow rate values are OK, but one could reduce the running time to say 8 hours to make the
plant smaller. The new data would then be:

 Throughput 60 · 8 = 480 m3
 Cation load [eq] = 4.8 · 480 = 2304
 Anion load [eq] = 2.15 · 480 = 1032 eq
 SAC volume: V  = 2304 / 1.0 = 2304 L
c

 SBA volume: V  = 1032 / 0.5 = 2064 L

a

 SAC flow rate: 60 / 2.304 = 26.0 h –1

 SBA flow rate: 60/2.064 = 29.1 h –1

In most cases, the demineralisation system will comprise at least 2 trains operating alternatively, with
automatic regeneration, so the shorter running time is an advantage.

We have assumed in our example (see picture above) that the columns are regenerated
in Amberpack mode, which will guarantee a very good treated water quality, with typically less than
1 µS/cm conductivity and less than 10 µg/L residual silica.
demineralisation line calculation
principle
Reading time: 5 minutes
The following data will be required for calculation purposes:

 raw water total alkalinity [M-alk.] in °f; °f = french degree

 raw water strong acids salts [SSA] in °F (SO4 + Cℓ + NO3);
 silica content [SiO2] (1° f= 12 mgl–1 SiO2);
 the water’s carbonic acid content and, possibly, after the carbonic acid has been removed,
TCO2;
 volume of water V to be provided between regenerations, in m³, including process water if
applicable;
 hourly output Q in m³/h;
 resin exchange capacity C expressed in French degrees per litre of compacted resin.
(Degrees can be replaced by milliequivalents, where one milliequivalent = 5°F).

For rough calculation purposes, the exchange capacity is obtained from documents for each
resin or from calculation software supplied by the manufacturer. First calculate the anion
exchanger having a capacity C; the volume of resin to be used will be provided by the following
equations:

in the case of a low alkalinity exchanger and by:

in the case of a high alkalinity exchanger.

NB: TCO2 = CO2 content entering the strong anion exchange process, i.e. the CO 2 content in raw
water + CO2 obtained following the dissociation of alkalinity titration via a cation exchanger, or
less (1 to 1.5°f) if a CO2 removal process exists upstream to the strong basic anion exchange
process.

The cation exchanger calculations are then carried out allowing for the extra water aVa required
for anion exchanger rinsing. We then have:

The volumes calculated in this manner must then be compared with the hourly output to be
treated. The speed of passage or the bed loading are subject to upper limits.

If Vc or Va are too low, they will have to be adjusted and this will increase the cycle volume V.