CATIONIC EXCHANGE CAPACITY OF PURE PC200FD RESIN IN FOOD INDUSTRY WATER SOFTENING PROCESS

Abstract

The present paper represents a preliminary study regarding the ion exchange capacity of the Pure PC200FD weak acid macroporous cationic food grade resin in the water softening processes in the food industry. The ion exchange capacity was experimentally investigated in batch mode as a function of the resin dose, initial solution concentration, contact time, temperature and competitor anions corresponding to the dissolved salts that induce water hardness. More than 50 % efficiency of the cationic exchange in the presence of Pure PC200FD resin was achieved in the following conditions: resin dose equal to 8 g dry resin/L, temperature of 298 K, over 250 minutes contact time. Considering the ion exchange capacity of the strong acid food grade Purolite C100E resin as a comparison benchmark it was concluded after the experiments that weak acid Pure PC200FD resin represents a reliable alternative for water softening.