Brine Pretreatment Improves Ion-Exchange Resin Regeneration with Associated Physicochemical Changes
5 affiliations
- 1Universiti Sains Malaysia , , Building G07 , , ,
- 2Universiti Sains Malaysia , , , ,
- 3National Chung Hsing University , , 250 Kuo-Kuang Road , ,
- 4Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah , , , ,
- 5Tekno Impact PLT , , 1, First Floor, Jalan Setia Sentral , , ,
Abstract
Regeneration efficiency governs the long-term performance and sustainability of ion-exchange processes, yet resin fouling and limited accessibility of exchange sites can restrict regeneration effectiveness and ion transport. This study investigates controlled brine pretreatment as a regeneration-enhancement strategy before conventional acid–base regeneration. Under optimized conditions (5% NaCl, 1:1 resin-to-brine ratio, and 55 °C), pretreated resins achieved approximately 306% higher Ca2+ removal and 222% higher Mg2+ removal than untreated regenerated resins. In individual column runs, breakthrough analysis showed a longer resin utilization period for the pretreated resin, with the exhaustion time increasing from 49 to 69 min. The times to reach C/C0 values of 0.90 and 0.95 also increased from 43 to 62.8 min and from 45.1 to 65.0 min, respectively. SEM showed no obvious surface-associated deposits on the pretreated resin, while FTIR analysis indicated minor spectral changes with characteristic resin functional groups largely retained. Particle-size analysis showed a shift toward smaller particle sizes after brine pretreatment. These physicochemical changes may influence exchange-site accessibility and ion transport. ICP–MS analysis further showed that approximately 65.6% of Ca2+ and 66.4% of Mg2+ were displaced during the brine pretreatment stage before subsequent acid–base regeneration. The findings provide indirect physicochemical evidence linking controlled brine pretreatment to observed changes in resin characteristics and regeneration behavior.
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BibTeX
@article{yeoh2026brine,
title = {{Brine Pretreatment Improves Ion-Exchange Resin Regeneration with Associated Physicochemical Changes}},
author = {Shin-Yong Yeoh and Kher-Wei Lai and Swee-Yong Pung and Kun-Yi Andrew Lin and Muhammad Qasim Ali and Shi Yu Khor and Fei-Yee Yeoh},
journal = {ACS omega},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1021/acsomega.6c07602},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13670306},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Brine Pretreatment Improves Ion-Exchange Resin Regeneration with Associated Physicochemical Changes
AU - Shin-Yong Yeoh
AU - Kher-Wei Lai
AU - Swee-Yong Pung
AU - Kun-Yi Andrew Lin
AU - Muhammad Qasim Ali
AU - Shi Yu Khor
AU - Fei-Yee Yeoh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
JO - ACS omega
DO - 10.1021/acsomega.6c07602
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13670306
AB - Regeneration efficiency governs the long-term performance and sustainability of ion-exchange processes, yet resin fouling and limited accessibility of exchange sites can restrict regeneration effectiveness and ion transport. This study investigates controlled brine pretreatment as a regeneration-enhancement strategy before conventional acid–base regeneration. Under optimized conditions (5% NaCl, 1:1 resin-to-brine ratio, and 55 °C), pretreated resins achieved approximately 306% higher Ca2+ removal and 222% higher Mg2+ removal than untreated regenerated resins. In individual column runs, breakthrough analysis showed a longer resin utilization period for the pretreated resin, with the exhaustion time increasing from 49 to 69 min. The times to reach C/C0 values of 0.90 and 0.95 also increased from 43 to 62.8 min and from 45.1 to 65.0 min, respectively. SEM showed no obvious surface-associated deposits on the pretreated resin, while FTIR analysis indicated minor spectral changes with characteristic resin functional groups largely retained. Particle-size analysis showed a shift toward smaller particle sizes after brine pretreatment. These physicochemical changes may influence exchange-site accessibility and ion transport. ICP–MS analysis further showed that approximately 65.6% of Ca2+ and 66.4% of Mg2+ were displaced during the brine pretreatment stage before subsequent acid–base regeneration. The findings provide indirect physicochemical evidence linking controlled brine pretreatment to observed changes in resin characteristics and regeneration behavior.
SN - 2470-1343
ER -