Browsing by Author "Hamilton, Amanda"
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Item SUSTAINABLE LOW ENERGY DESALINATION OF ROAD SALT RUNOFF USING ION EXCHANGE RESINS(2019) Bandyopadhyay, Surjo; Firer, Danielle; Hamilton, Amanda; Krasnoff, Gregory; Kraus, Harrison; McKenna, Eric; Quartner, Evan; Umeozulu, Somachukwu; Brubaker, KayeNaCl is used to deice roads during winter storms, but the resulting salty runoff has detrimental environmental effects. A novel low-energy approach for desalinating snowmelt runoff using ion exchange resins was explored. Strong-acid cation and strong-base anion resins were tested in parallel gravity flow columns to determine their efficacy in removing Na+ and Cl− from saline solutions of varying concentrations (0%, 1%, 5%, 10% w/w). Ion exchange was quantified via pH measurements of column effluent samples. Cation resin capacity was positively correlated with influent Na+ concentration, while removal efficiency was negatively correlated with Na+ concentration. Neither the anion resins’ capacity nor removal efficiency followed any correlation with Cl− concentrations. More 1% influent solution compared to 5% or 10% was required to exhaust both resins. Future research should confirm current findings, test resins in realistic field conditions, explore resin regeneration, and examine engineering efficacy in a field setting.