REPORT ON WATER PRODUCTION, 25TH 0CTOBER-2ND NOVEMBER, 2010.

INTRODUCTION Water, often referred to as the Universal Solvent, have versatility of application and thus a number of purification method depending upon it source (nature of solute it dissolves) and specific application. While water for human consumption require the presence of some essential elements (Calcium, Magnesium, etc.), water for laundry purpose certainly do not require such elements. However, the purpose for Water production (deionization) is for use at Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR). The water is been employed for the Following; 1. Heat Sink: Keeping the temperature difference (t) between the inlet and the outlet water flow in the reactor core as low as possible, i.e. 24oC, by method of continuous circulation and heat exchange. 2. Moderation: Neutrons produced in the Reactor are very fast and need to be moderated or thermalise so as to effectively collide with the target. 3. Barrier: The reactor water serves the purpose of capturing gamma dose thereby reducing radiation exposure to personnel. Given the purpose the water will serve, it is essential that it be of optimum quality. The water must not contain heavy metals as it can be easily ionised by the neutron interactions. Ionised metals tend to promote corrosion of the reactor component parts and the pool and reactor vessel. The required quality parameters are; Water Flow: Conductivity: pH: 0.5- 0.7 m3/h less than 1S/cm 6.0 0.5

Ion Chloride: Solid residue:

less than 0.1mg/L 2ppm

To achieve the above parameters, three-stage ion exchange is employed to deionised the feed water. The ion exchange takes place by means of ion exchange resins packed in 3 columns. The pump pressurized water through the system. However, the initial pressure of the water is sufficient for the required flow (the pump was most utilized during the regeneration of the resin where pressure of about 0.4MPa was needed to create suction).

Filter Sand Pump

Cation Column

Anion Column

Mixed Column To storage or Reactor

WATER PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY REGENERATION OF RESIN Overtime and with continuous usage, the proton and hydroxyl ion embedded into the resin gets consumed. Hence, the resins have to be regenerated by washing it with Acid and Alkaline solutions. Regeneration of the Cation Resin: The regeneration of the cation resin was preceded by washing of the mechanical filter. Water was forced to flow from the bottom and elute from the top of the column (back washed) for 1 hour, then the flow was reversed for another 1 hour. Equally, the cation column was washed in a similar way with varying of the backward wash time to 30 minutes at a flow rate of 250L/h while the forward wash to 40 minutes at a flow rate of 500L/h. The flow was change to back-flow then pressure pump was started and regulated at 0.4MPa. Fifty litres of 30% sodium hydroxide solution was charged up the cation

column at about 1.5 hours by means of negative pressure through the bottom while the flow rate of the water was at 160 to 200L/h. At the end of the charging, the elute water had a pH of about 14. The column was continuously back washed at low flow rate. The flow rate was gradually increased until it reaches about 250L/h while the pH of the elute water was checked periodically until it falls between 8 and 9. The pump was again started and maintained at 0.4MPa, and then 50L of Industrial HCl was charged up the column at about 2.5hours while the flow rate of the water was at 100 to 150L/h. The column was continuously washed until the pH was between 3 and 4, while test for water hardness was conducted until a negative result was obtained. Regeneration of the Anion Resin: The elute water from the cation column at pH 3.8 and negative hardness test was passed into the Anion column. The column was back washed for thirty minutes and then forward washed for 30 minutes at a flow rate of 500L/h. The pump was on and regulated at 0.4MPa and the water directed through back flow. 60Litres of Industrial HCl was sucked up the Anion at a flow rate of 24L/h. The column was back washed for 30minutes then forward till the pH was between 3 and 4, and chloride test yield infinitesimal value. 60 litres of 30% sodium hydroxide was charged up the column through duration of 2 hours while the water flow rate was maintained between 160 to200L/h. The column was washed continuously till the pH falls to between 8 and 9 and the chloride test yields negative. The Mixed column: The resultant elute water from Anion column was then passed into the mixed column which was back washed at a flow rate of 500L/ h for 1.5 hours. The hardness, chloride conductivity and pH tests were performed on the elute water and the result recorded as the quality parameters of the water in Table 1.

WATER PRODUCTION The precision filter is made of up of tightly packed sand, this trapped much of the solids particulates and bacteria in the feed water. The first stage (cation column) is the cation exchange unit. The resin at this column is embedded with protons which were exchanged for the positive ions (K+, Na+ ,Ca2+, etc.) dissolved in the water.
K+ Na+ Ca2+ Al3 ... SO42ClHCO3NO3- ... K+ Na+ Ca2+ Al3 ... SO42ClHCO3NO3- ...

nR

nR

nH

Illustration of cat-ion exchange. The elute from the cation column is essentially free of positive cation responsible for water hardness, thus it is said to be Soft Water The second stage (anion column) is the anion exchange unit, hydroxyl ions were exchange for the negatively charged ions (Cl-, HCO3-, SO42-) to produced water molecule.

n n

n n

n n

n n

Illustration of anion exchange

The third stage (Mixed column) is a three-bed resin ion exchanger in which anionic resin is at the bottom, neutral resin serves as the interphase and cationic resin at the top. As the soft water passes through the column, its pH is regulated by the proportion of the anion bed. The normal ratio between the anion and cation bed is 2:1, whereby the anion load can be varied to adjust suitably, the pH of the deionised water. The required quality parameters were checked before the deionised water was sent to the storage tank and subsequent uses. The parameter are presented by the table below

S/N 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

PARAMETER Hardness Chloride Conductivity pH Temperature INITIAL Nil Nil 0.44 6.14 27.5

REMARK AFTER 45 MIN Nil Nil 0.45 6.28 27.7

Table 1. Hardness Test. 100mL of the water sample was taken in a beaker and a yeast tablet was dissolved in it. Purplish-red colour indicates the presence of hardness while bluish colour indicates the absence of hardness. Chloride Test. About 10ml of the water was sample into two test tubes. 2 drops of 0.1 N nitric acid (HNO3) followed by 3 drops of 0.1 N silver nitrate (AgNO3). The presence of pink precipitate indicates the presence of chloride ion.

Cl(aq)+

Ag(aq)

HNO3

AgCl(s) Pink precipitate