Comparative study of nanofiltration and ion exchange for nitrate reduction in the presence of chloride and iron in groundwater.

Public concern on the groundwater contamination by nitrate has grown significantly in recent years. The objective of this study was to determine the appropriate treatment to reduce the nitrate content in the presence of other ions from groundwater, for which nanofiltration and ion exchange were evaluated. In nanofiltration, the effects of pressure, feed flow, initial composition, and performance were studied, in ion exchange the flow rate, initial composition, and resin regeneration process. Nanofiltration tests were carried out on four different commercial membranes: NF97, NF99, NF99H, and NF90. Among these, all membranes removed chloride but only NF97 and NF90 were able to remove nitrate in compliance with Chilean drinking water standard, showing rejections of 97% and 87%, respectively, in an optimum pressure range of 12-20 bar in which the NF90 produced 3.5 times more permeated water than NF97. For ion exchange tests, Purolite A520E resin was used, which decreased nitrate content to <1 mg/L. Results leading to the optimal flow within the exchange column indicated that residence time must be at least 2.1 min. The higher nitrate concentration in water did not lead to changes in the maximum resin capacity, 47.1 mg NO3/g resin, but it did decrease the resin breakthrough capacity when initial concentration increased. Optimal regeneration was assigned to a 3% w/V NaCl solution and up-flow mode. Due to the ability to remove both nitrate and chloride, and being able to remove iron if necessary, nanofiltration was chosen as the appropriate treatment.