Multi Contaminant Removal Through Ion Exchange Resins

A water supply may often contain more than one contaminant that must be removed. In such cases, it may be cost effective to simultaneously remove the contaminants with either a single-use or a regenerable resin. Since several contaminants use brine regeneration, it is feasible to design for combined removal of contaminants.

For example, nitrate and arsenic or nitrate and uranium co-occur in several locations. We have participated in numerous design projects using a multi-contaminant approach for removing nitrate, uranium, arsenic, TOC and perchlorate in various combinations. A similar design approach can be used for removal of cations combined with anions, such as hardness, barium, TOC and uranium. Our in-house capability to model the resin performance in the presence of these multi-contaminants can be used to optimize the final process design and minimize or eliminate the need for field pilot studies.

Advantages of Purolite ion exchange resins for multi-contaminant removal include:
• Simple ion exchange system that can handle at least four contaminants in a single vessel.
• Major reduction in footprint, capital and operating costs.
• Simple to operate plant with single waste volume to handle.