Water Treatment

Perchlorate is poorly abundant on earth, except combined with sodium nitrate mineral in some specific arid areas. Natural perchlorate is extracted to produce fertilisers. Perchlorate is intensively used in the formulation of explosive propellant for various explosives and weapons. To cover this strategic need, perchlorate is produced industrially.

Perchlorate

Perchlorate

Molecular structure of perchlorate.

Perchlorate is toxic for the thyroid and is an endocrine disruptor. Groundwater concentration in contaminated areas may exceed the WHO guideline of 70 μg/l as ClO₄¯.

Do strong base anion resins remove the perchlorate (ClO₄¯) ion from water

Resinex™ PR-1 is selective macroporous strong base anion resins in the chloride form especially tailored to remove perchlorates.

Resinex™ PR-1 has a special macroporous structure which leads to a greater affinity for nitrate, nitrite and perchlorate than for any other anionic species including sulphates (SO₄²¯).

Resinex™ PR-1 average capacity is:

+/- 4 kg ClO₄¯/m³ resin

Depending on the operating conditions, it is possible to reach outlet average concentrations below:

10 µg/l of ClO₄¯

Resinex™ PR-1 is also suitable for pertechnetates (TcO₄¯) nitrates and/or nitrites removal. Please send us a water analysis if you need help on the sizing of an anion removal system.

Recommended perchlorate (ClO₄¯) removal operating conditions

One AquaFlow™ can be used for the removal of perchlorate (ClO₄¯) at a superficial contact time of a minimum of six minutes but usually two AquaFlow™ in series, merry-go-round system are used with a typical flow rate per vessel: 10- 30 BV/h.

How to calculate perchlorate (ClO₄¯) removal from groundwater

Assume a contaminated groundwater with 50 mg/l perchlorates (ClO₄¯) an average flow of 20m³/h operating 24/24 -7/7 then we have 50 mg/l x 20m³/h x 8600 hpa/(1000 mg/g) /(1000 g/kg) = 8,6kg perchlorates (ClO₄¯). This gives at an average loading of 4kg ClO₄¯/m³ Resinex™ PR-1 a consumption of approximately 2m³ Resinex™ PR-1 per annum. An AquaFlow™ can then be selected from our industrial mobile filter range in order to obtain the desired exchange frequency.

It is always recommended that you contact our technical expert for sizing of a heavy metal removal system as other metals can interfere in the estimated consumption.