Reduction of Mineral Content in Water With Organic Zeolites

In general, the idea of deliberately reducing the mineral content in water has been limited to the field of boiler-feed water for steam generation purposes. Some incidental reduction in total solids in water has resulted when “temporary” hard waters have been softened with lime for domestic and industrial uses. Modern organic zeolites can now be used to secure an almost complete removal of solids even to the point of competing with distilled water. Already a number of high-pressure steam plants, ice plants, and a single instance of a large munitions plant, are using organic zeolites to produce water of a low mineral content for boiler-feed or rinsing purposes. The use of organic zeolites, while still expensive, has passed the academic stage. It ha s been recommended (1)2 that the latest types of organic zeolites, called resinous exchangers, could be used most satisfactorily for processing and precipitate washing at drug and chemical plants.