Ion exchange resin type Water Softener 

An ion exchange system consists of a tank containing small beads of synthetic resin. The beads are treated to selectively adsorb either cations(positive) or anions(negative) and exchange certain ions based on their relative activity compared to the resin. This process of ion exchange will continue until all available exchange sites are filled, at which point the resin is exhausted and must be regenerated by suitable chemicals.

Ion Exchange Water Softening system

The ion exchange water softener is one of the most common tools of water treatment. Its function is to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium ions from hard water. In many cases soluble iron (ferrous) can also be removed with softeners. A standard water softener has four major components: a resin tank, resin, a brine tank and a valve or controller.

The softener resin tank contains the treated ion exchange resin - small beads of polystyrene. The resin beads initially adsorb sodium ions during regeneration. The resin has a greater affinity for multi-valent ions such as calcium and magnesium than it does for sodium. Thus, when the hard water containing the Calcium and Magnesium Ions is passed through the resin bed, the calcium and magnesium ions adhere to the resin, releasing the sodium ions until equilibrium is reached. The water softener has exchanged its sodium ions for the calcium and magnesium ions in the water.

the principle of sodium ion exchange and softening treatment is to exchange cation in the raw water with resin, hardness constituents Ca2+and Mg2+ in water exchange Na+ in resin, thus absorb the Ca2+and Mg2+ to make the water to be softened.

2RNa + Ca2+ = R2Ca + 2Na+

2RNa + Mg2+ = R2Mg + 2Na+

After the water treated by sodium ion exchanger, the Ca+ and Mg+ were superseded by Na +.

The Brine Tank
The brine tank is just what its name suggests, a plastic tank that contains a brine, water saturated with salt. The brine solution is typically made with salt or sodium. However problems may result if you are on a restricted low sodium diet in that some of the sodium is transmitted into the drinking water.

Also, the bacteria in septic systems so necessary for the breakdown of waste may be adversely affected by high concentrations of sodium.

The Control Valve and Regeneration
The control valve is the traffic cop in your water softener system. It determines when it is time to clean those plastic beads which are now coated with calcium and magnesium. Older style units use a timer, newer models use a computer controlled meter that determines when it is time based on actual water usage.

To clean the beads the water softener uses a process often called regeneration which consists of three cycles: Backwash, Recharge and Rinse.

Let's take a review of each cycle.

Backwash:
Regeneration starts with a backwash cycle where the valve reverses water flow in the tank and flushes the tank of debris. The debris is then eliminated out the drain.

Recharge or Regeneration:
In the Recharge cycle the salty brine solution is pumped into the mineral tank. The highly concentrated salt solution with its positive electrical charge is attracted to the negatively charged plastic beads and forces the magnesium and calcium off the beads.

The salt or potassium by itself is not positively charged enough to displace the magnesium or calcium in normal concentrations, but in the highly concentrated solution of brine, it is strong enough to force the calcium and magnesium off.

The excess magnesium and calcium rich salty water is then flushed out of the tank and down the drain.

Rinse:
The tank is then filled and rinsed with water and the process repeats itself. The beads are now coated with salt. As the calcium and magnesium from the hard water are attracted to the plastic beads, the salt, now in much diluted quantities and smaller electrical charge, is forced off the beads and is suspended in the softened water.

When the beads become nearly all coated with minerals, the control valve starts a new regeneration cycle and cleans them again, flushing the hard water minerals down the drain.

Application scope of softener

Mainly used in industry and civil water softening preparation, such as Boiler feed water make-up water, air conditioning system make up water, heat exchanger, power plant, chemical, textile, printing and dyeing, bio-pharmaceutical, Electronic system and water pretreatment.

PACKAGE +transportation