Intensification of a Neutralization Process for Waste Generated from Ion Exchange Regeneration for Expansion of a Chemical Manufacturing Facility

Abstract

Waste generated during regeneration of Ion Exchanger (IX), used for deionizing water, needs to be neutralized before it can be discharged back to a clean water source. An efficient and novel process is disclosed that minimizes the neutralization volume and chemicals required for pH adjustment. The currently employed neutralization setups in the industry are environmentally unsustainable. Various neutralization setups were studied for treating waste generated from IX regeneration. From the collected plant data, the treatment requirements of waste streams generated during regeneration of IX beds were analyzed. An efficient neutralization setup was developed to lower the operating and capital costs by eliminating the need of some equipment and by lowering the neutralization volume. The new process results in considerable savings compared to currently used processes in the industry and is environmentally benign. The improved neutralization setup proposed in this work has achieved a 63% reduction in volume of IX regeneration waste stream; a 62% reduction in the capital cost; 23% reduction in chemical usage; and a 55% reduction in operating cost. The achieved improvements are quite significant, which are bound to immensely benefit the chemical industries that require demineralized water for their operation.