Ion exchange exchange system have a wide variety of uses including softening, deionization, water recycling and heavy metal removal and recovery from wastewater. An ion exchange system consists of a tank containing small beads of synthetic resin. The beads are treated to selectively adsorb either cations(positive) or anions(negative) and exchange certain ions based on their relative activity compared to the resin. This process of ion exchange will continue until all available exchange sites are filled, at which point the resin is exhausted and must be regenerated by suitable chemicals.
