The removal of sulphate ions from model solutions and their influence on ion exchange resins

There is a growing tendency for industries around the globe to diminish the contents of pollutants in industrial wastewaters to an acceptable level. Conventional methods are unfavourable and economically unacceptable, especially for large volumes of wastewaters with a high content of undesirable compounds. In contrast, ion–exchange is a very powerful technology capable of removing contamination from water. This paper analyses a study of ion exchange in Amberlite MB20 and Purolite MB400 resins after sulphate removal from a model solution. For the characterisation of ion exchange in resins, infrared spectroscopy was used. The IR spectra of both ion exchange resins show a similar composition after adsorption. Experiments that are due to this same used matrix in producing. The efficiency of sulphate ion removal and pH changes were also measured. Amberlite MB20 has proven to be a suitable ion exchange resin due to its high effi ciency (about 86%) for the removal of sulphates from solutions with initial concentrations of 100 and 500 mg.L-1, respectively.