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The Critical Importance of Brine Management
As drinking water continues to become more and more scarce and contaminated groundwater reduces safe supplies, new technologies in the field are continuously evaluated to determine if they can make a meaningful change.
For many inorganic contaminants such as nitrate, perchlorate, and chromate, ion exchange resin (IX) treatment is considered the Best Available Technology (BAT).
In the right applications, IX demonstrates exceptional durability for years, a minimal rejection stream, relative ease of use, and a host of other benefits. IX meets the considerable challenges posed by minimum contaminant levels (MCLs) mandated by regulators.
However, implementing IX brings both increased capital expenditure and ongoing operational costs, particularly in dealing with brine production.
Contaminated Brine From IX Processes
During the water treatment process, the resin eventually reaches its adsorption limit after treating a certain volume of water based on its own properties and those of the treated groundwater.
Once this happens, the resin must be regenerated with a brine solution containing a high concentration of some harmless salt. This salt is exchanged with the adsorbed contaminants, resulting in a highly salty and contaminated solution that needs further treatment before disposal or reuse.
Methods for Contaminated Brine Management
There are two common methods used for brine management, each with its own benefits and disadvantages:
1. Minimum liquid discharge (MLD) – This process improves the regeneration process by either segregating brine based on specific ion content for reuse or by pumping the brine through a membrane at high-pressure to reduce its volume. In either case, the end result is a reduced volume of still highly-contaminated solution.
2. Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) – This process relies on brine evaporation and crystallization of the salts. Passive evaporation processes can be applied in arid
or semi-arid zones where there aren’t any limitations on land use. In any other scenario, energy-consuming thermal evaporators will be necessary.
What the industry truly needs is a third hybrid solution that will generate the minimum brine volume required for IX regeneration while still allowing for reuse or safe liquid disposal.
This is a considerable challenge that stands to revolutionize drinking water treatment if it can be achieved properly.
A New Alternative to Conventional Brine Management
Existing solutions leave operations with an option between minimum brine production or increased disposal requirements and cost. TOXSORB’s MAC – Modified Activated Carbon technology provides an option that minimizes brine production as well as the disposal haulage.
Through this process, IX can be regenerated multiple times using the same brine while also efficiently eliminating hazardous components like chrome and nitrate. This lets organizations implement a solution that is both economical and effective, meeting the MCL regulation.
TOXSORB’s technology covers all of the bases when it comes to drinking water treatment. Exceptional contaminant removal is achieved while keeping operating costs as low as possible to make the technology suitable for more applications than ever before.