The Role Of Ion Exchange Resin

Ion exchange resin is a type of network structured polymer compound with active groups. In its molecular structure, one part is the matrix skeleton of the resin, and the other part is the active group composed of fixed ions and exchangeable ions.
By selecting, exchanging, adsorbing, and catalyzing reactions, interference components can be removed and trace components can be enriched to achieve water purification, desalination, decolorization, separation, refinement, and other purposes.
At present, ion exchange resins are widely used in many fields such as water treatment, chemical industry, metallurgy, food, leather making, and ultra pure pharmaceuticals.

Water treatment
The water treatment industry is one of the fields where ion exchange resins were applied earlier, and the demand for ion exchange resins accounts for approximately 90% of the production of ion exchange resins.
In water treatment, ion exchange resins can be used for water softening and desalination, as well as for the production of softened water, pure water, and ultrapure water.
For example, the common central water softener in daily life uses ion exchange resin to remove hardness ions such as Ca2+and Mg2+in water through ion exchange, softening hard water; The softening of conventional industrial water and boiler water is achieved by using specific cation resin exchange to replace calcium and magnesium ions in water quality with sodium ions, thereby achieving the goal of soft water treatment; The same goes for adding salt to a dishwasher.

In wastewater treatment, the exchange reaction between exchangeable ions in ion exchange resins and heavy metal ions in wastewater is mainly used to reduce the concentration of heavy metals in wastewater, thereby achieving deep purification.
Cation exchange resin has the advantages of high treatment efficiency and the ability to achieve the recovery and utilization of multiple metals in wastewater treatment.

Chemical industry
Ion exchange resin can not only be used as an ion exchange agent, but also as a catalyst. It not only has excellent catalytic performance, but also exhibits unique catalytic efficiency in certain situations.
In organic synthesis, acids and bases are commonly used as catalysts for esterification, hydrolysis, ester exchange, hydration, and other reactions. Compared with inorganic acids and bases, ion exchange resins are easier to separate, regenerate, and reuse catalysts and reactants. After the reaction is completed, the system does not need to be neutralized, and the products often do not need to be further purified. They have low corrosion, high selectivity, and fewer by-products. Therefore, they can simplify the process to a greater extent, reduce equipment costs and production costs, achieve continuous processes, improve product quality and yield, and reduce or even avoid environmental pollution.
The production of methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE) is achieved by using large pore ion exchange resin as a catalyst, reacting isobutene with ethanol, replacing the previously environmentally friendly tetraethyl lead.

Food industry
In the food industry, ion exchange resins can be used not only for producing specialized water supply and treating wastewater, but also for desalination, decolorization, separation, purification, catalysis, and other applications in sugar, monosodium glutamate, alcohol, beverages, and other industries.
Sugar requires decolorization treatment in the production and manufacturing process. However, there are many types of pigments and complex structures in the sugar solution, most of which exist as organic anions or zwitterions. The use of macroporous chlorine based strong alkaline anion resins can effectively decolorize, and+H type strong acid positive ion resins or anion resins can also be used in combination.