Nitrate removal from drinking water by point of use ion exchange

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the ability of a special type of strongly basic resin MP500WS for the removal of nitrate from different waters.

Two different types of Point-of-Use (POU) devices containing an identical resin were used. MP500WS known as macro porous was used in POU devices for removal of high concentrations of nitrate and sulfate ions from water. Sulfate and chloride ions are considered the most important interferences in the treatment process of nitrate by most anion exchange resins.

The results obtained by treatment of water samples having different ranges of nitrate (20 to150 mg/L), sulfate (50, 100 and 800 mg/L) and chloride (50 and 500 mg/L) have shown that the method was suitable for delivering water with NO(3) concentrations in less than its maximum contaminant level (MCL=45 mg/L) as long as the initial NO(3), SO(4) and Cl concentration has remained in less than 150, 100 and 500 mg/L, respectively.

For this purpose, POU systems that utilize a suitable tested resin may be considered as an economical and effective alternative to conventional systems. This study shows this strategy very effective for nitrate reduction to acceptable levels when macro porous type strongly basic resin is used as the resin.