Lewatit S100 in Drinking Water Treatment for Ammonia Removal

Ammonium nitrogen is the most important form of nitrogen that can cause excessive algal growth and stimulate eutrophication in surface water. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of removing ammonium from drinking water by means of an ion Exchange process. Polymeric Lewatit S100 material (particle-size 0.3–1.2 mm) was used. The breakthrough capacity was determined by dynamic laboratory investigations and the concentration of regenerant solution (5 and 10 % NaCl) was investigated. The concentration of ammonium ion inputs in the tap water that we used were 10, 5 and 2 mg NH4+ l_1 and down to levels below 0.5 mg NH4 + l_1. The experimental results show that the breakthrough capacity was very small at ammonium concentration 2 mg NH4 + l_1 compared to its breakthrough capacity at ammonium concentration 10 mg NH4 + l_1. There was no difference between regeneration by 10 and 5 % NaCl. We conclude that the use of Lewatit S100 is an attractive and promising method for ammonium concentration greater than 5 mg NH4 + l_1 and till 10 mg NH4 + l_1