Water Softening by Ion Exchange Resins

Water softeners by ion exchange are systems designed to remove Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions, typically responsible for scaling in water pipes and equipment,  replacing them with Na+ or K+ ions previously loaded into a synthetic resin. The process is reversible, meaning that the resin bed can be recharged once exhausted.

 Alscore designs and manufactures ion exchange softeners for medium and large scale commercial and industrial applications from 0.5m3/h to 70 m3/h with intermittent regeneration or constant operation.

Our Duplex systems include two softening vessels running in parallel to guarantee a 24/7 operation.

The regeneration (resin recharging) process can be programmed based on time or processed volume and is performed by brine flow.

Important raw intake water limitations

Raw intake water must undertake an efficient pretreatment to limit suspended matter, turbidity, lime, heavy metals such as iron and aluminium, organics, bacteria or strong oxidants such as chlorine or O3. Any of these can damage or foul the resins, reducing effectiveness and leading to premature failure.

The most common fouling element in cation resins is iron. Commonly found dissolved in well water as reduced (non-oxidised) Fe+2, it is oxidised to insoluble Fe+3 as oxygen in service and backwash water reacts with it.