Boron removal from drinking water with a boron selective resin: Is the treatment really selective?

Drinking water and even mineral water may contain boron until a few ppm and WHO has recommended a limit of 0.3 mg boron l(-1). The treatment by the re sin Amberlite IRA743 seems to be the most convenient. Water deboronation wi th this resin has been revisited through laboratory column experiments, esp ecially for low boron concentrations. Given that the resin bears weakly bas ic anion exchange groups, the specificity of the treatment is not obvious. For mineral waters, it is important that the ionic composition remains cons tant. It is shown here that anion exchange reactions occur but may be negle cted when the water has sufficient ionic strength and/or being gasified wit h carbon dioxide. Thus, the treatment with Amberlite IRA743 is convenient, but it requires to be authorized in France and the minimization of regenera tion solutions has still to be improved. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.