Patent attributes
The invention relates to treating unwanted moderately saline water for producing useful water. The treated water is also suitable for human and livestock consumption. The process includes passing moderately saline waters having 0.05% or more weight and less than 1.00% by weight of the salts of Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cl, SO4, or CO3 or combinations thereof through an ion exchange media (FIG. 2). The ion exchange media is pre-treated to be saturated with multivalent cations such as calcium (Ca2+) or magnesium (Mg2+) ions (FIG. 2). After passing through the ion exchange media, the effluent has decreased sodium cations and increased calcium and/or magnesium cations compared to the pre-treated moderately saline water (FIG. 2). As the moderately saline waters pass through the ion exchange media, the sodium content of the media rises as the multivalent cation content lowers until the media is unacceptable for further water treatment and must be regenerated.
