Equilibrium Property of Ion Exchange Resin for Silica Removal at Ultralow Concentration

Ion exchange resin was used to remove silica ion at ultralow concentration. The effects of temperature, type of ion exchange resin and single/mixed-resin systems on removal efficiency were estimated. As temperature increased, the slope of concentration profile became stiff, and the equilibrium concentration was higher. In the single resin system, the removal of silica was continued up to 400 min, but the silica concentration was recovered to initial concentration after 400 min due to the effect of dissolved $CO_2$ . In the mixed-resin system it took about 600 min to reach equilibrium. Because of faster cation exchange reaction than anion exchange reaction, the effect of $CO_2$ could be removed. Based on the experimental results carried out in the mixed-resin system, the selectivity coefficients of silica ion for each ion exchange resin were calculated at some specific temperatures. The temperature dependency of the selectivity coefficient was expressed by the equation of Kraus-Raridon type.