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UICP CH 1 Hardness
UICP CH 1 Hardness
1
Water As Basic Utility -
Prepared By:-
Dhaval N.Yadav
Lecturer (CL-II),
Chemical Engineering Department,
Shri K. J. Polytechnic, Bharuch.
Topics to be Covered
Types of Water
Method of Removal of Hardness
Water
Deminer Boiler
Hard Soft alised Feed
Water Water Water
Water
Soft Water
The water which does not contain any of
the Ca or Mg salt dissolved in it is called
Soft Water.
It may contain certain salts like Sodium
or Potassium dissolved in it.
A sample of soft water when used with
soap forms lather.
Hard Water
Hardness in water is that
“Characteristics which Prevents The
Lathering of Soap.”
This is because of presence of certain
salts of Calcium, Magnesium and other
Heavy Metals dissolved in water.
Continued…
A sample of hard water when used with
soap does not produce lather, but on the
other end produces white scum or
precipitate.
This is formed because of formation of
Insoluble Soaps of Calcium and
Magnesium.
Sludge
Slimy loose
precipitate called
sludge suspended in
water
Water
Boiler
wall
Sludge is a soft, loose and slimy precipitate formed within the boiler. It
can be easily scrapped off with a wire brush.
It is formed at comparatively colder portions of the boiler and collects
in areas of the system, where the flow rate is slow or at bends.
It is formed by substances which have greater solubility's in hot water
than in cold water, e.g. MgCO3, MgCl2, CaCl2, MgSO4 etc.,
water
Boiler
wall
Scales are hard substances which sticks very firmly to the
inner surfaces of the boiler wall.
Scales are difficult to remove even with the help of a hammer
and chisel.
Examples: CaSO4, CaCO3, Mg(OH)2
8
Why to worry?
Hard water does cause Soap Scum,
Clogs Pipes and Clogs Boilers as Lime
Scale.
Types of Hardness
Hardness
Temporary Permanent
or Or
Carbonate Non-Carbonate
Temporary Hardness
Dissolved bicarbonate (HCO3-) of Ca, Mg.
It is mostly destroyed by mere boiling of water, when
bicarbonates are decomposed yielding insoluble
carbonates.
Ca(HCO3)2 Heat CaCO3 + H2O + CO2
Calcium bicarbonate Calcium Carbonate
Chemicals
Hard water
(soda+lime+
feed
coagulant)
feed
Softened
water
Wood fiber
filter
Stirrer
paddles
22
Hot LS Process
In this process a calculated quantity of Ca(OH)2
(lime) and Na2CO3 (soda) are mixed with hot
water at a temperature range of 80 to 150oC
and added to the hard water.
It consists of :
Reaction tank: water, chemicals and steam are
mixed
Conical sedimentation tank : sludge settles down
Sand filter : complete removal of sludge from the
softwater is ensured
Continuous Hot Lime soda Process
Reaction tank
Soft water
Conical sedimentation
tank
Precipitated sludge
(CaCO3, Mg(OH)2 Sludge
outlet
Filtered soft
water
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Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
1. It is very economical compared to other
methods
2. Iron and manganese salts are also removed by
this process
3. It increases the pH of the softened water hence
corrosion is minimized also pathogenic bacteria
Disadvantages
1. Disposal of large amount of sludge (insoluble
precipitates) poses a problem
2. This can remove hardness to the extent of
15ppm which is not good for boilers
Zeolite (or Permutit Process)
Zeolites are micro porous, alumino silicate
minerals commonly used as commercial Adsorbents
and catalyst.
The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756
by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who
observed that upon rapidly heating the
material STILBITE, it produced large amounts of
steam from water that had been adsorbed by the
material. Based on this, he called the material zeolite,
from the Greek ζέω (zéō), meaning "to boil" and λίθος
(líthos), meaning "stone"
Zeolite (or Permutit Process)
• Zeolite is a Hydrated Sodium Alumino
Silicate, capable of exchanging reversibly its
sodium ions for hardness producing ions in
water.
•The general chemical structure of zeolite is
given below Na2O.Al2O3.xSiO2.yH2O (x = 2-10
and y = 2-6)
•Why synthetic zeolite is better than natural
zeolite for the softening of water?
Ans: Natural zeolites are non-porous
Micro pores of Zeolite Porous Structure of zeolite
27
Zeolite softener
Hard water in
Zeolite bed
Gravel
Injector
Softened water
NaCl storage To
sink
28
Process of softening by Zeolite method
For the purification of water by the zeolite softener, hard water is passed through the zeolite bed at a
specified rate. The hardness causing ions such as Ca2+, Mg2+ are retained by the zeolite bed as CaZe
and MgZe respectively; while the outgoing water contains sodium salts. The following reactions takes
place during softening process
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Limitations of Zeolite process
1. If the water is turbid ---- then the turbidity causing particles clogs the pores of the Zeolite and
making it inactive
2. The ions such as Mn2+ and Fe2+ forms stable complex Zeolite which can not be regenerated that
easily as both metal ions bind strongly and irreversibly to the zeolite structure.
3. Any acid present in water (acidic water) should be neutralized with soda before admitting the water
to the plant, since acid will hydrolyze SiO2 forming silicic acid
1. Soft water contains more sodium salts than in lime soda process
2. It replaces only Ca2+ and Mg2+ with Na+ but leaves all the other ions like HCO3- and CO32- in
the softened water (then it may form NaHCO3 and Na2CO3 which releases CO2 when the water
is boiled and causes corrosion)
3. It also causes caustic embitterment when sodium carbonate hydrolyses to give NaOH
30
Ion-Exchange/ Deionization/ Demineralization
Process
R = CH3
34
Ion exchange purifier or softener
Hard
water
Gravel
Cation exchange Resin Anion exchange Resin bed
Injector
Injector
Acid solution
for Wastages to
regeneration sink Alkaline solution for
of resin Wastages to
regeneration of resin
sink
pump
Soft water
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Process Description
Step-1 (Passing through Cation Exchange Resin)
The hard water is passed through cation exchange
column which removes all the cations like Ca+2, Mg+2
etc from it and equivalent amount of H+ ions are
released from this column into water.
2RH+ + Ca2+ (hard water) R2Ca2+ + 2 H+
2RH+ + Mg2+ (hard water) R2Mg2+ + 2 H+
Continued…
Step-2 (Passing through Anion Exchange Resin)
The hard water is passed through anion exchange
column, which removes all the anions like SO42-, Cl- etc.
present in the water and equivalent amount of OH- ions
are released from this column to water.
2ROH- + SO42- (hard water) R2SO42+ + 2 OH-
2ROH- + Cl- (hard water) R2Cl- + 2 OH-
The column is washed with deionised water and washing (Na+ and
SO4-2 or Cl- ions) is passed to sink or drain.
Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
It is used to soften highly acidic or highly alkaline
waters.
It provides water of very low hardness (nearly 2ppm).
Disadvantages
Equipment is costly.
Expensive chemicals are required.
It water is turbid then the output (soft water) is
reduced.Turbidity of raw water must be below 10 ppm.
Phosphate Treatment
The zeolite and ion-exchange process removes most of the
Ca and Mg from water. The traces of these impurities in
water may cause scale formation in boiler.
In high pressure boiler, scale formation can be avoided by
addition of phosphate to boiling water. The soluble
phosphates are:
Disodium hydrogen phosphate : Na2HPO4
Sodium dihydrogen phosphate : Na2H2PO4
Trisodium phosphate : Na3PO4
Sodium ortho phosphate : Na2P2O7
Phosphate Treatment
These sodium phosphate reacts with calcium and
magnesium impurities to convert them to their insoluble
phosphate as Ca(PO4)2 which are deposited and removed
as sludge.
This avoids scale formation.