This paper reports the results obtained by studying the ion-exchange synthesis of potassium
hydroxide from lime milk and carboxylic resin Lewatit CNP 80 in the K-form. Carboxylic resin
has been shown to have several advantages in comparison with, for example, sulfonate ion
exchanger, due to its higher selectivity toward Ca2+, which substantially enhances at elevated
temperature. The increase of temperature from 293 to 333 K enhances the sorption of Ca2+
versus K+ that allows achieving far higher KOH concentration in the solution phase. The values
of equilibrium separation factor, α, for Ca2+−K+ exchange have been determined at 293 and
333 K by varying the equivalent fraction of Ca2+ in the solution phase from 0.04 to 0.7. A
remarkable increase of α values has been observed at higher temperatures and at low calcium
content in the solution phase. The regeneration of the resin (conversion from Ca- to K-form)
has been carried by using the mixtures of potassium chloride and potassium sulfate. The
regeneration process under these conditions is accompanied by the ion-exchange isothermal
supersaturation of calcium sulfate, which forms a stable supersaturated solution in the resin
bed. After leaving the column, CaSO4 crystallizes spontaneously, which allows reuse of the
regenerating solution following the complete elimination of the Ca2+ admixture with a small
amount of K2CO3. The precipitates of calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate are the only wastes
produced in the process. The complete regeneration of the resin has been shown to require a
nearly 70-fold excess of the regenerant; nevertheless, the decrease in the degree of resin
regeneration from 100 to 80% allows reduction of the amount of the regenerant by more than 2
times. The use of incompletely regenerated resin for the synthesis of KOH does not decrease
remarkably the efficiency of the process. The flow sheet of the proposed process is presented
and discussed.