Removal of Humic Substances from Water by Means of Fibrous Ion Exchanger

Natural organic substances are found in all natural waters, and especially high concentrations occur in the surface waters. Humic substances, which often constitute the majority of natural pollutants, can be the source of undesirable odor and increased color as well as may accumulate certain toxic substances through sorption or formation of complexes. Another threat connected with the presence of humic substances in water is the possibility of the trihalomethanes (THM) formation during disinfection with chlorine. Additionally, it disturbs most processes employed for treatment of water. Hence, the great interest in the development of the pretreatment methods enabling to reduce the content of humic substances prior to the further water treatment processes. According to many researchers, ion exchange is an effective method for removing humic substances from drinking water supplies. However, the obtained effects are strictly dependent on the properties of the employed ion exchangers. The paper presented the studies on the removal of humic substances from water using fibrous ion exchangers. Owing to their structure, fibrous ion exchangers are characterized by very good kinetics of the sorption process, which enables the application of thin layers with simultaneous high flow velocity. Fiban A-1 - strong base anion fibrous exchanger, synthesized in the Institute of Physical Organic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus - was employed in the presented laboratory studies on the treatment of surface water containing substantial amounts of humic substances (over 10 g/m(3)). The applied anion exchange resin allows for efficient elimination of humic substances from the treated water, whereas the obtained sorption value, reaching approximately 20 mg/g of ion exchanger allowed treating about 255-270 bed volumes of water under the conditions of the experiment. The exhausted Fiban A-1 ion exchanger can be successfully regenerated using 2% NaCl + 2% NaOH solution, as five consecutive operational cycles showed no reasonable decrease in the amount of purified water.