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Regeneration of Ammosorb

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General

Ammosorb is an natural zeolitic ion exchange mineral based on the sodium ion. Ammosorb is very selective for ammonium in freshwater applications, the product can not be used in seawater.

How it works

Ammonium ions in the water enter the ammosorb granule and replace a sodium ions located in the zeolitic lattice. The ions effective exchange places, hence the name "ion exchange" mineral. After a period of time, normally a few hours to days, the ammosorb will need to be regenerated. As a rule of thumb guide, 1 kg of ammosorb will remove between 1 and 5 grams of ammonium. The actual capacity of the product will depend on the concentration of other cations in the water. The softer the water the better the performance of ammosorb.

In order to restore the capacity of ammosorb, the ion exchange process in reversed. This can be achieved by passing seawater through the ammosorb media, or by using a sodium based regenerant.

Sea-water regeneration

Pump clean seawater through the ammosorb filter over a minimum period of 4 hours, but preferably 24 hours. The minimum volume of seawater should be equivalent to 20 times the volume of ammosorb in the filter, there is no maximum limit.The addition of a small amount of caustic to the seawater will dramatically improve the performance of the regenerant

Chemical regeneration

Use a chemical storage tank which has a minimum of six times to volume of the ammosorb filter bed. Add to this tank 4 bed volumes of water, 250kg of sodium chloride and 100 grams of sodium hydroxide. The regenerant should have a pH 10.5 to 11. Mark the tank with a warning sign saying caustic salt solution, and observe health and safety precautions appropriate to the solution.

Aerate the tank of regenerant, and recycle the regenerant through the ammosorb filter at a flowrate of once every hour for a period of between 4 and 24 hours. Note, large quantities of ammonia gas will be blown off in the regenerate tank. The tank should therefore be located out-side the building in a suitable location. The ammonium gas may be scrubbed from the air using an acidic water scrubbing tower.

The pH of the regenerant will fall during regeneration to around pH 9. After regeneration thoroughly was the ammosorb bed with fresh clean water, until the pH falls down to below pH 8.0. The ammosorb bed is now ready for operation.