The Benefits
Water Softeners will allow you to use less soap and detergent, saving the environment and saving you money. In addition, Softeners prevents the build-up of harmful mineral scale, adding years of service life to pipes, appliances and hot water heaters, thus paying for itself in the short and long term.
The ProcessThe heart of a water softeners is a mineral tank. It's filled with small polystyrene beads, also known as resin or zeolite. The beads carry a negative charge.
Calcium and magnesium in water both carry positive charges. This means that these minerals will cling to the beads as the hard water passes through the mineral tank. Sodium ions also have positive charges, albeit not as strong as the charge on the calcium and magnesium. When a very strong brine solution is flushed through a tank that has beads already saturated with calcium and magnesium, the sheer volume of the sodium ions is enough to drive the calcium and magnesium ions off the beads. Water softeners have a separate brine tank that uses common salt to create this brine solution.
In normal operation, hard water moves into the mineral tank and the calcium and magnesium ions move to the beads, replacing sodium ions. The sodium ions go into the water. Once the beads are saturated with calcium and magnesium, the unit enters a 3-phase regenerating cycle. First, the backwash phase reverses water flow to flush dirt out of the tank. In the recharge phase, the concentrated sodium-rich salt solution is carried from the brine tank through the mineral tank. The sodium collects on the beads, replacing the calcium and magnesium, which go down the drain. Once this phase is over, the mineral tank is flushed of excess brine and the brine tank is refilled.
APPLICATIONS- Production of softened feed water for steam generators
- Production of high purity, softened water for pharmaceutical applications
- Softening, processes for food industry
- Laundry systems
- Ice making