Ion exchange resin used in this work was styrene-divinylbenzene co-polymer with sulfonic acid group as a strong acid cation resin. This resin is particularly well suited for the removal of water hardness. In water treatment, commonly used softening processes are chemical precipitation and ion exchange. In this study, a combination of ultrasound and ion exchange was applied for reducing the hardness of water. The rate of exchange or kinetics of ion exchange is governed by several parameters. Therefore, important variables such as intensity of ultrasound, amount of resin, concentration of ions and contact time were investigated. The experimental data related to the removal of magnesium and calcium ions were fitted properly with Langmuir model. The kinetic of removal for both ions was pseudo-first-order. In point of mechanism, the internal porous and film diffusion were both effective in the process. The capacity of sorption and the velocity of removal were higher in the presence of ultrasound than control method and this is related to the cavitation process.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.