Coexistence of Reasons for Ion Exchange Resin Breakage

Troubles & Solutions

In the water treatment system, a large amount of ion exchange resin will be used in the softener tanks and mixed resin beds. If you fail to pay attention to the following problems during use, it will lead to ion exchange resin breakage, thus reducing the service life of the resin. Common problems are as follows (let's take D301 as an example).

Expansion and contraction. The resin repeatedly expands and contracts during use and regeneration, and the backbone is prone to aging and fracture, similar to the fatigue of spring metal.
Extrusion crushing. Resin breakage caused by crush. The resin at the bottom expands in the process of working, resulting in the extrusion of a large number of similar resins above and on the side. There is no effective space for it to deform, so the resin will be broken due to excessive extrusion.
Excessive pressure difference. The resin column is designed too high and the feed pressure is too large, resulting in excessive pressure difference between the top and bottom of the resin column, and further leading to accelerated resin crushing.
Oxidation crushing. Resin contact with strong oxidizing substances and materials, or long-term contact with nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide and other strong oxidizing substances in the regeneration process, will lead to resin backbone fracture due to oxidation, which in turn will accelerate resin crushing.
Excessive temperature difference. During the operation, high and low temperature alternating and repeated impacts of excessive temperature difference can also lead to cracks in resin particles.
Mechanical damage. When loading new resin, for the convenience, a centrifugal pump is used for loading. The high-speed rotating impeller in the chamber will inevitably collide with the resin particles, it will still cause irreversible damage to the resin even in the state with water (it is recommended to use a pump with less damage to the resin like a diaphragm pump).

In the process of resin crushing, the above 6 points often coexist, we need to try our best to avoid the above problems when selecting equipment and process design, to extend the service life of resin.