Investigating the differences in acid separation behaviour on weak base ion exchange resins

Differences in acid separation behaviour on weak base ion exchange resins h ave been investigated in this work. Experimental data has been obtained on sorption equilibrium using various types of weak base resins and both inorg anic and organic monobasic acids. A detailed analysis has been presented us ing the experimental data of present work and also that reported in the lit erature. Apart from acid concentration and type of acid, other factors such as resin type and basicity are also discussed. It was found that, resins w ith high basicity are most suitable for the acid removal applications. For resins with medium and weak basicity, large variation in the sorption capac ity with concentration was observed, ii new theoretical approach incorporat ing effect of resin basicity has been proposed and examined qualitatively a nd quantitatively using the sorption data. The results substantiate reversi bility of sorption through lower values of protonation equilibrium constant s and also indicate incomplete resin salt dissociation in some cases. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.