Zeolite Process of Water Softening
Summary
TLDRThis video script explains the zeolite process for water softening, detailing its origin from the Greek words 'zein' (to boil) and 'lithos' (stone). Zeolite, represented as Na2Z, is a sodium hydrated aluminum silicate used to convert hard water, rich in calcium and magnesium ions, into soft water. The script outlines the reversible ion exchange mechanism where sodium ions in zeolite are exchanged for hardness-causing ions. It also covers the process's advantages, such as low maintenance and space requirements, and its limitations, including the inability to treat turbid, colored, or acidic water, and the potential for increased sodium content in treated water.
Takeaways
- 💧 **Zeolite Process**: The script explains the zeolite process used for treating hard water to convert it into soft water by targeting calcium and magnesium ions.
- 🌿 **Etymology of Zeolite**: The term 'zeolite' originates from the Greek words 'zein' (to boil) and 'lithos' (stone), reflecting its appearance of boiling stone due to water release.
- 🔬 **Chemical Composition**: Zeolite used for water softening is primarily sodium hydrated aluminum silicate, represented as Na2Z, where Z is the zeolite framework.
- 🔄 **Ion Exchange Mechanism**: The process involves a reversible exchange of sodium ions in the zeolite with calcium and magnesium ions from hard water, resulting in softened water.
- 🌱 **Types of Zeolite**: Zeolites can be natural, found as green sand, or synthetic, which are lab-made and known as permutites, used in the permutit process.
- 🏗️ **Water Softening Setup**: The process requires a container with a zeolite pad on a bed of gravels, where hard water is introduced at the top and soft water is collected at the bottom.
- ♻️ **Regeneration of Zeolite**: After exhaustion, zeolite can be regenerated by introducing a sodium chloride (brine) solution to revert the calcium and magnesium zeolite back to sodium zeolite.
- 📊 **Advantages**: Zeolite softeners are space-efficient, have low maintenance and operational costs, and can remove up to 10 ppm of hardness, leaving a minimal residual hardness.
- 🚫 **Disadvantages**: The treated water may contain excess sodium ions, potentially causing pseudo-hardness, and the process does not treat anions, which can affect water quality.
- ⛔ **Limitations**: The process is not effective with turbid, colored, or acidic water, as these conditions can clog the zeolite pores, interfere with regeneration, or destroy the zeolite structure.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of the zeolite process?
-The primary purpose of the zeolite process is to treat hard water by converting it into soft water, specifically by targeting and removing calcium and magnesium ions.
What is the origin of the term 'zeolite'?
-The term 'zeolite' is derived from the Greek words 'zein' meaning 'to boil' and 'lithos' meaning 'stone', reflecting the observation of water appearing to boil out of certain stone formations.
What is the chemical composition of the zeolite used in water softening?
-The zeolite used for water softening is sodium hydrated aluminum silicate, represented as Na2Z, where 'Z' refers to the zeolite network and 'Na' indicates sodium ions that are free to react.
How does the zeolite process work in terms of ion exchange?
-The zeolite process works by allowing hard water to come into contact with zeolite, which then exchanges its sodium ions for calcium and magnesium ions, converting hard water into soft water.
What are the two types of zeolite mentioned in the script?
-The two types of zeolite mentioned are natural zeolite, which is found in nature like green sand, and synthetic zeolite, which is artificially created in a lab.
What is the role of sodium ions in the zeolite structure?
-Sodium ions in the zeolite structure are free to react and are involved in the ion exchange process, making them crucial for the water softening process.
How is the zeolite regenerated after it becomes exhausted?
-The zeolite is regenerated by supplying a solution containing sodium ions, typically a 10% NaCl solution or brine, which reverses the ion exchange and restores the zeolite to its sodium form.
What are the advantages of using a zeolite softener?
-Zeolite softeners occupy less space, have lower maintenance and operation costs, can remove up to 10 ppm of hardness, require less skill for maintenance, and do not produce waste or precipitates.
What are the disadvantages of the zeolite process?
-The treated water may contain excess sodium ions leading to pseudo-hardness, it does not treat anions, and the total dissolved solids (TDS) value may increase.
What are the limitations of the zeolite process?
-The zeolite process has limitations including its ineffectiveness with turbid water, colored ions, and acidic water, as these conditions can clog the zeolite pores, interfere with regeneration, or destroy the zeolite structure.
Outlines
💧 Introduction to Zeolite Process for Water Softening
The speaker introduces the concept of the zeolite process, which is used to treat hard water by removing calcium and magnesium ions. Hard water is defined as water containing dissolved salts of calcium and magnesium. The goal is to convert hard water into soft water through the use of zeolite, a naturally occurring substance derived from the Greek words 'xenolithos', meaning 'boiling stone'. Zeolite is described as a sodium hydrated aluminum silicate, represented as Na2Z, where 'Z' refers to the zeolite network and 'Na' indicates sodium ions that are free to react. The speaker explains the structure of zeolite, highlighting its ability to exchange sodium ions with hardness-producing ions in water, thus softening it.
🔄 The Working Principle and Process of Zeolite Water Softening
The paragraph explains the principle behind the zeolite water softening process, which involves the reversible exchange of sodium ions in zeolite with calcium and magnesium ions present in hard water. This exchange results in the conversion of sodium zeolite into calcium and magnesium zeolite, thereby softening the water. The process is illustrated with a step-by-step description of how hard water is treated with zeolite to produce soft water. The speaker also discusses the regeneration of exhausted zeolite using a sodium chloride (brine) solution, which restores the zeolite's ability to soften water. The process involves four steps: initial softening, exhaustion of zeolite, regeneration with brine, and the continuation of the softening process.
🏡 Advantages and Disadvantages of Zeolite Water Softening
This section outlines the advantages of using zeolite for water softening, including its small footprint, lower maintenance and operational costs, and the ability to reduce hardness up to 10 ppm, which is referred to as residual hardness. The speaker also mentions that the process requires less skill for maintenance and does not result in sludge or waste formation. However, disadvantages are also highlighted, such as the treated water containing an excess of sodium ions, which can lead to pseudo-hardness and create issues for both domestic and industrial use. Additionally, the process does not treat anions and can increase the total dissolved solids (TDS) in water.
⚠️ Limitations of the Zeolite Process
The final paragraph discusses the limitations of the zeolite process. It emphasizes that the process is not effective with turbid water, as suspended or colloidal particles can clog the zeolite pores. The presence of colored ions can also hinder the regeneration of sodium in the zeolite, and acidic water can destroy the zeolite structure due to competition between sodium and hydrogen ions. These limitations are critical as they can cause the process to stop working effectively. The speaker concludes by summarizing the key points about the zeolite process, its benefits, and its constraints.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Zeolite
💡Hard Water
💡Soft Water
💡Ion Exchange
💡Regeneration
💡Permuted Process
💡Orthosilicates
💡Water of Crystallization
💡Residual Hardness
💡Pseudo-Hardness
Highlights
Zeolite process is used to treat hard water by converting it into soft water.
Hard water contains dissolved salts of calcium and magnesium.
Zeolite is derived from the Greek word 'xenolithos', meaning 'boiling stone'.
Zeolite is an orthosilicate with metallic ions, used for water softening.
Sodium hydrated aluminum silicate is the type of zeolite used for water softening.
Zeolite has the ability to exchange its sodium ions with hardness-producing ions.
Zeolite can be natural, found as green sand, or synthetic, created in a lab.
The water softening process involves reversible exchange of sodium ions with calcium and magnesium ions.
Zeolite process involves passing hard water through a container with zeolite to produce soft water.
Zeolite can become exhausted and needs regeneration with a sodium chloride solution.
The regeneration process involves reversing the exchange reaction to restore the zeolite's sodium ions.
Zeolite softeners are compact and have low maintenance and operation costs.
The process can remove up to 10 ppm of hardness, leaving a residual hardness.
Zeolite process requires less skill for maintenance compared to other softening methods.
The treated water may contain excess sodium ions, which can induce pseudo-hardness.
Anions are not treated in the zeolite process, which can affect water quality.
Zeolite process has limitations, including sensitivity to turbid, colored, and acidic water.
Transcripts
hello everyone
so today i will explain you zeolite or
permitted process
this is a process which is used to treat
hard water
now i hope if you remember hot water is
that water which contains
dissolved salt of calcium and magnesium
so what i want to target is i want to
convert this hard water into soft water
and that means i want to target those
calcium
and magnesium ions which are present in
the
hard water so if i remove those ions the
hard water can be converted to soft
water
so one of the process which is used for
that is zeolite process
uh zeonite was derived derived from the
greek word xenolithos so one a geologist
was working on a dome
and he found on the hill that there are
certain green colored
sand or stone particles which look as if
they are boiling
that means a water is coming out of it
and based on that
zine means boiling and lithos means a
stone
later on the name for that particular
compound was
termed as a zeolite basically zeolite
are uh orthosilicates uh they are
basically having these uh metallic ions
in them
uh especially zeolite which is used for
water softening process
is sodium hydrated aluminum silicate
so it is normally represented as na2z
where in z you can call it as a zeolite
network which is quite
fixed while uh the other ions which are
present
in the network are nothing but sodium
aluminium silicon etc so now if you uh
look into
the name of the compound it is very easy
to locate that sodium is written fast
that means sodium is the iron which is
quite free in the
uh structure of the zeolite at the end
silicate is
mentioned that means the major network
is of silicate now if you remember
silicate was a tetrahedra and if you
remember
sio44 minus tetrahedra look like this
now this could make it in a chain form
or a sheet form
that is all silicate exist now imagine
if i remove one silicate
uh silicon which is si4 plus in this
structure
uh and in order to compensate that
positive charge i can dope it with
aluminium plus three
and then there is one more ion left
which is n a plus
so aluminium plus three can take up that
space where silicon was there
but what about n a plus so any plus
keeps on roaming in this so n a plus
does not get a
space in the letters to occupy so it
keeps on roaming in this and that is why
na is free to react
and that is why we call it as na2z so
here sodium
is free to react hydrated because it is
having water of crystallization attached
to it
so i guess you understand that the water
of crystallization is very loosely held
that is why it can come out easily of
the network and that's how it was
boiling because the water came out uh
very easily
and then aluminum so basically it is
sodium hydrated aluminum silicate
so you can see here the formula it goes
na2o
sodium hydrated aluminum silicate
now you can see x and y these are
nothing but integers and they vary in
this ratio
and there are lot many probability and
combinations like permutations available
for this
and based on that their name also
changes so basically zeolite is that a
silicate
which is capable of exchanging its
sodium ions so this iron sodium is
available for the
exchange the types of zeolite it could
be two
if you want to simply classify zeolite
you can simply say that post it is
natural zeolite
which is available in nature so a green
sand normally
can be considered as zeolite and then
there are different different names as i
said depending on
x and y value here if you can see those
x and y's are varying
based on that uh they are available with
different
different name the second one would be
synthetic zeolite
the name itself suggests that you are
making it in the lab they are completely
uh artificial you are making it
synthesizing it so obviously you can
prepare them because you know the
formula right
so if the formula is known you can
anyhow prepare them by using or
selecting
uh the chemicals like here these
chemicals are selected and they are
used to prepare zeolite synthetic
zeolite is also known as permuted
and that is why the another name of this
process is zeolite or
permuted process now let us go ahead
with
like up till now what we have seen it is
it could be natural and it could be
synthetic and basically it is
represented as
na2z however it is sodium hydrated
aluminum silicate
so this is not nothing but the pictures
of zeolite available
now go to the principle of water
softening directly though i can say that
you have to first allow your hard water
to come in contact with zeolite
then what happens is calcium and
magnesium ions which are
present in the hard water let's say
calcium chloride is the hard water
and you allow it to react with the
zeolite pad then what happens is
any ions are exchanged so this sodium
zeolite
which was any uh this is getting
exchanged with this calcium so what
happens it converts into calcium
zeolite so ultimately sodium zeolite is
converted into calcium
and magnesium zeolite so basically the
principle behind this
uh water softening process would be
reversible exchange of sodium ions
with hardness producing ions i'll later
tell you how it is reversible
as of now if you can take any hardness
producing iron
be it magnesium sulfate the reaction
remains
same it is going to get exchanged by the
zeolite so the zeolite is going to
convert into calcium and magnesium
cellulite
and that is how the water is free from
that calcium magnesium iron
coming to the major reaction which i
just disclosed uh right now
is the common reaction so basically
whatever
calcium and magnesium ions or salts are
present here if you allow them to react
with the zeolite zoolight is going to
absorb that
and it becomes calcium and magnesium z
now if you can focus on each and every
reaction they all are saying the same
the water now earlier which was having
sulfates in it which is of calcium
magnesium
nowadays of sodium so basically it is
free from calcium and magnesium
and that is why the water can be called
as salt
going to the process uh you need to take
a container which contains zeolite and
then you have to spray your hard water
from the top
and you can get your soft water from the
bottom let us see
the process now the container looks like
this
there is a zeolite pad which is coated
on the bed of gravels
now if you remember gravels were always
used for the filtration purpose
right when you used to filter the water
you used to
have that fine sand then coarse and then
pebbles
you increase the size of pebbles that
we used to use for the filteration so
here also gravels means pebbles
uh so those pebbles we are going to use
for the filtration purpose on which the
zeolite has been
kept now from here you are going to
supply your hard water
and remember hard water means dissolved
salts of calcium and magnesium ions are
present
here so it is also also calcium and
magnesium are present here
you allow them to fall on the zeolite
now if you remember the reaction would
be this only
let's say calcium chloride is present
and if it reacts with zero light
your sodium is going to get exchanged
and your
water would be free from that calcium
ion
and that water goes down now since your
gravel is placed uh that ensures the
filtration purpose so that no sand
particle or other particle
is uh falling down and from here you can
get your soft water out
so this soft water means which is free
from calcium and magnesium
ions that's simple so what we are doing
is water softening
so this is the one aspect of a zeolite
process now
what happens after certain time
let me show you in my way like let's say
this is the first step
right and if i add hard water from top
right and this is my zoo light so i'll
get my soft water from water
that's that's what we have seen up till
now but don't you think after some time
your zeolite na2z will be converted to
calcium z and magnesium z
and it may exhaust so it becomes
exhausted or saturated
zeolite because if you um you know
measure it
like around maybe some limited quantity
of zeolite here
some limited quantity of zeolite is used
so there is highly likely chances that
let's say one turn zeolite is used so
that is going to consume
that is going to be consumed the sodium
ions are going to be exchanged
so it's highly likely that there is a
position when
entire na2z is converted into calcium z
and magnesium z
so now if i add hard water from top
do you think it is going to give me soft
water
no it is not going to give you soft
water because there will be no
exchange reactions there will be no
nature to get exchanged
and this step is known as exhausted
zeolite
so for the third step what i can do is i
want
a regeneration of my zeolite i want my z
zeolite back for that what i want is
these ions should get again converted to
na2z
and obviously i need to supply a
solution which contains
n a so normally 10 percent nacl solution
which is nothing but brine is uh allowed
to spray on the top again
and then here from here you can skip
those washings
and at the end at the fourth step your
zeolite will be regenerated
and then now if you allow your hard
water to pass through it
definitely is going to give you the soft
water
so in all the overall process contains
four steps
the first step which is removal of water
uh hardness which is softening of water
in between you have to take a pause
because it may get exhausted
and you have to regenerate your calcium
z and magnesium set back you want your
rna to set back
so that step is known as regeneration
wherein you have to supply a solution
which contains any ions normally
nacl solution is used to regenerate it
so that
you can regenerate your zeolite back and
that's how you're again
ready for the softening process so let
us go back to the procedure
we are done with the step one now
imagine if this keep on going there will
be a one time where this na2 is not left
in the
zeolite so what you have to do is to
regenerate it back
so this particular area is for
regeneration
injector is basically used to like
inject that particular
solution nacl as i said you can spray it
from
here so nacl can be sprayed from here
nacl as i said
is used for regeneration so when the
reaction get reversed
i hope you understand this nacl plus
calcium said
reverse and you will be able to
regenerate your zeolite
back that is why i said in the principle
if you remember
it is reversible exchange of sodium ions
with hardness producing ions reversible
exchange of this sodium ion
with hardness producing ions so that is
how it is reversible
so now comes the turn of backward
direction regeneration when you spray
your nacl
this sink portion will be used for uh
discarding the washing
so this is a separate area and this area
is used to take your soft water
so i hope it is very easy for you now to
understand that how does a zeolite
softener work
you have to allow your hard water to
come in from the top
and then your soft water can be taken
from the bottom provided the reaction is
this and at the same time you are
able to regenerate the zeolite back by
giving it a wash with the nacl and then
the process can go on continuously
this is how it looks like i think you
are able to understand this top
uh inlet of hard water and i think
you're able to see this also extra
container
so here also the same pattern is taking
place
that's it so regeneration i have already
explained
you have to regenerate your exhausted
zeolite back and the reaction is same
whatever is exhausted you have to supply
a brine in order to get it regenerated
and that's it so now coming to the
advantages if you
uh can look on zeolite softener occupies
very less space
in comparison those advantages or the
coming thing which i am going to discuss
would be
in comparison to other processes like
line soda process or iron exchange
process of water softening
so here it occupies a less space because
a single container is used
overall running maintenance and
operation cost is comparatively less
it can remove hardness up to 10 ppm so
you can call it as a residual hardness
that means somewhat hardness is left in
the
uh water which is around 10 ppm so let's
say if the
hard water is around 2000 ppm hard the
it will be reduced to around 10 ppm so
it is not going to nullify
it is not going to have a 0 ppm residual
hardness but some amount of hardness
would be left
and that is residual hardness you may
take it as a disadvantage
also in comparison to iron exchange
because there the residual hardness is
around 2 ppm
but then you can take it as an advantage
also in comparison to lime soda
because there the residual hardness
varies uh from
15 ppm to 60 ppm so basically
it is a variable it requires less skill
for maintenance as a
now once the process gets started it
will be over
and there are no impurities which are
precipitated because in lime soda
process there is not much of the sludge
which is coming at the end
so there is no precipitate formation
there is no waste to formation at the
end
that is why you can call it as an
advantage now coming to the disadvantage
there are major disadvantages
which one first one is the treated water
contains
excess of sodium ions when the excess of
sodium ions how because
whatever calcium or magnesium is present
in whatever ppm let's say 1000 ppm
now the sodium ions are present in
around 1000 ppm
so obviously the treated water contains
then excess of sodium salt
and i hope you remember that there is
one hardness which you call it as pseudo
hardness
the word pseudomeans false or fake so
this kind of hardness
gets induced when excess of sodium or
potassium salts are present
what i want to say is let's say nacl is
in excess in your water
and if you treat it with soap are you
going to give the
get the leather properly or not no
you're not going to get the leather
properly because
the water is salty now when you get that
less leather what you'll assume that the
water is hard
but the water is not hard because it
does not contain catch your magnesium
right this not formation of leather is
because of excess of sodium ions
and that is what known as pseudo
hardness you may assume that the water
is hard
but it is not it is a false and fake
hardness
so treated water contains excess of
sodium salt is a problem
both for domestic level and for
industrial level it creates many
problems later on
secondly anions are not treated here
only cations are treated which are
calcium and magnesium
so anions need to be treated because
they also interfere with
uh the quality of water they can make
the water acidic or basic
and basically the treated water contains
more dissolved salts
then treated by other processes so your
tds value increases here
now coming to the limitations
limitations means the process has a
limitation
limit to it it stops working when you
call it as a disadvantage now
disadvantage is like you can anytime
convert it into advantage
by removing this this this negative
factor you can remove
and it will be advantage so disadvantage
what we discussed was these
and with them also we are okay the
process is working
but in limitations what happens the
process stops working
so the process has a limit to it and it
stops working
that is what the limitation is so
disadvantage you can take care of
and you can remove those problems but
limitations
are a problem and the process does not
even work
forget about giving you negative result
of positive result
now let's see what are the conditions
wherein the zeolite process can stop
working the first is turbid one
turbine water means the water is having
turbidity
so it is having those suspended
particles or it is having those
colloidal particles which are
present as impurity and if they are
present it should not be used for
treatment
definitely because it is going to clog
the pores
so the zeolite pores are going to get
clogged because of those impurities
and that is why it will immediately stop
working
the second limitation is the colored
ions if the water have those ions
they are also going to get exchanged by
sodium but at the same time
there is a problem related to
regeneration of your zeolite
so the regeneration of na is not
possible properly effectively when these
ions are getting exchanged
so this is a limitation that the water
should not contain these colored ions
otherwise
the sodium will not be regenerated so
that is a limit to the process
the process immediately stops working
and the last one says that the acidic
water should not be treated
because if the water contains those h
plus ions it is going to
destroy the zeolite bat destroy the
zeolite because zeolite is
n a plus and h plus competes with that
so it destroys the structure of zeolite
so acidic water should not be treated
so basically you have three limitations
here that the water should not be turbid
it should not have colored ions and it
should not be acidic
uh that concludes the zeolite process
so i think uh today i am able to give
you a glimpse of
zeolite process wherein zeolite is
derived
from two words zine lithos which is
boiling stone
it is represented as na2z where it is
sodium hydrated aluminosilicate
it could be natural and it could be
synthetic and overall
principle would be reversible exchange
of the calcium and magnesium ions
with the zeolite so that the zeolite
absorbs
uh that calcium and magnesium easily
then here regeneration is also possible
and there are certain advantages to it
the disadvantage being that it gives
excess of sodium salt
which induces pseudo hardness and there
are three limitations also
that you should not use turbid water
acidic water
and the coloured iron should not be
present in zeolite
so i think uh with that this video was
of
a good help to you so thank you so much
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