How to Chemically Recharge Your Mixed Bed Resin For Your CR Rinsless. Danger + Hazardous

[oldmodman]

I misplaced these instructions for the last six years. Just could never find them.
They require the use of Lye and Muriatic acid. I would suggest rubber gloves (not the thin disposable gloves either). And a rubber chemistry lab apron wouldn't be overkill.
Forgive the strange spelling since some of these are from Great Britain.

I finished my first recharge this afternoon. The di resin that was recharged was from Buckeye Field Supply, good folks by the way.

I would also like to mention that some information available on the web would have you believe that you must have a full body has mat suit to use the two chemicals needed to do this. It is safe if common sense is used. Most homes have had these chemicals to some extent in the cupboards below the sink. Acids like muriatic or hydrochloride are used to remove scale from showers and toilets. Lye has been used to clear drains and cut grease for years. Your grandparent may have used lye soap also. The muriatic acid is stronger than packaged bathroom cleaners. I did get small amounts on my skin and it felt like a mosquito bite, when I realized that it was not, I washed my hands and all was good. Some chlorine gas comes out of the bottle and when it is mixed, so don't sniff the bottle. I only mention this because those without common sense should not do this project.

The reason that I am posting this is because the information available on the process is for a Tap Water Purifier, TWP. The TWP, I believe to be similar but has a drain which most di canisters in our hobby do not. They also use carbon and have a spring, to take up empty space in the canister. Also the product Red Devil Lye is no longer marketed, which is used in the directions. You can find them here, http://www.reefs.org/library/article/twp_recharge.html

First gather up the products needed. The chemicals can be found at Lowes, the tools at Wal-Mart. The Lye is found at Lowes in the pluming section. It is used for clearing drains and made by a company called Roebic, and is 100% sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), also known as lye, as mentioned on the back of the bottle. The muriatic acid is found in the paint department. The mixing bottles must hold 16 oz. of fluid. I got mine from a nut tray from Christmas. The two containers used to separate the resins came from Wal-Mart and hold 64 oz. each. I also used a fruit strainer, coffee filters, a stir stick, 5 oz. measuring cup (large shot glass), a 32 oz. tumbler, turkey baster and two 5 gallon buckets. I had enough resin to do a double batch; my instructions will be for a single batch so some of the tools will be mentioned singularly.

I am sorry I did not take any pics of the process so I will give my best shot at describing the process. I first put cold tap water in a five gallon bucket, and filled another bucket with ro water. I then put 9 oz. of ro water in a16 oz. bottle, then added 3 fluid oz. of Lye. This stuff gets hot, but not so fast that it going to melt the bottle before you get it into a bucket of cold water. Put a lid on the bottle and make sure it is tight. The bottle will not expand, it will collapse a little, you can open it if it collapses too much. Wile the bottle of lye is cooling shake it to keep the stuff from solidifying on the bottom. Mine did a little but this did not mater. If this does happen after it is used put more water in the bottle and set it aside the solid stuff will dissolve. When the bottle of lye cools fill it with more ro water until the total volume is 12 oz.

Next fill the 32 oz. tumbler with 6 oz. of ro water and then add 6 oz. of acid. Set aside. If you are doing this out side then put the wind to your side or back, if you are doing this inside then use a fan to put the wind to you side or back. Do not breathe the gas from the Acid.

Put the di resin in the clear Rubbermaid container, then add the Lye solution, do this slowly and stir gently. In a few seconds you will see the resin began to separate. Use the turkey baster to remove the top layer of resin and put it in the second Rubbermaid container. As the top layer is removed from the first container you will start to see a gap between the bottom of the second container and the resin, if your gap in the first container is to low then use the baster and take the solution from the bottom of the second container and put it back into the first container. I had to do this so I did not start to pick up the lower layer of resin. When most, I say most, because you will never get all of the resin from the top of the first container into the second container, but do your best, then set the second container to the side and let the lye do its job for an hour.

Put a coffee filter in the fruit strainer and pore part of the first canister into the filter. You will not get all of the resin into the filter so do this in two batches, you will need to use a new filter each time you empty one. Run 1 gallon through each batch of resin from the first canister, then put it into a zip lock bag. When the last batch is rinsed put it all back into the first container. Add the acid solution into the container stirring gently. If you are regenerating color changing resin you should see it turn from brown to a very dark blue or purple. Set this aside for about an hour.

By the way the floating resin is anion and the sinking resin is cation .

After both have sat for an hour then take the anion and drain it past a coffey filter, do this in two batches and run a gallon of ro water through each batch. When done draining from the water rinse then put in a zip lock bag.

Now take the cation and do the same as the anion. Empty the rinse water and acid into the same bucket as the anion's lye and rince water. The two will neutralize each other. You can empty the cation into the same bag as the anion. Mix each and fill the di canister.

I ran a gallon through the system and my tds meter was reading 0 so I felt this was enough.




Here is a link to the instruction with pictures. How to recharge DI resin - Reef Central Online Community

And the same instructions from another source




Editor's note: Use these instructions at your own risk. The chemicals used in this procedure are very dangerous and must be used with a great deal of caution. It is recommended that you wear protective gloves and goggles when performing the following procedure.
Materials required:

• 12 ounce can of Red Devil Pure Lye (good for 2-3 recharges) ~$2
• One gallon Muriatic acid (good for about 20 recharges) ~$3
• Turkey baster
• Plastic container, 1/2 gallon or so... a deep bowl will work
• Plastic bottle - needs to be fairly tough. Use one that holds atleast 12 fluid ounces, marked measurements are a bonus
• Measuring cup, 24 fluid ounce or larger
• Glass or plastic stirring rod
• About 5 gallons DI water (tap water will suffice) for rinsing resins
• 5 gallon bucket
• Activated filter carbon
• Rubber gloves/goggles, just in case

Mixing the chemicals:

The Red Devil lye is sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the base that recharges the anion (brown) resin. The lye creates a lot of heat when mixed, so fill a bucket full of cold tap water, even ice water. Put 9 fl. ounces water in the plastic bottle. Measure out 3 fl. ounces of the granular lye in the measuring cup, add this to the plastic bottle. Cap the bottle and place it in the bucket of cold water, shaking occasionally to mix the solution. After the bottle has cooled for a bit, add water to the bottle until it is at 12 fl. ounces. Shake again, and keep it in the bucket until it has completely mixed and cooled.
While the lye solution is cooling, mix 6 ounces of Muriatic acid (HCl)with 6 ounces of water. Keep a window open or a fan going, as some chlorine gas will come out of the solution. Add the acid to the water in case of splashing. Set this aside for now.
The first obstacle is separating the resins. Take the top off of the TWP, remove the carbon, poly pads and spring, then take the hose from the bottom and set it to drain into the bucket. You may want to remove some of the resin - spoon some out so that there's about an 1" between the top of the resin and the top of the canister. Lower the water level inside the TWP to about halfway down the DI resin. Add about half of the lye solution slowly, and stir gently with a stirring rod. Make sure the TWP is not draining during this time. The lye solution will completely exhaust the cation (green/blue) resin, causing it to sink. It will also cause the anion resin to float. Add more lye solution until the two resins are separated, there will be a gap between them. If needed, drain out a small amount of the water. Use your turkey baster to remove the brown (anion) resin and place it in a container. Remove as much as you can while leaving the exhausted blue (cation) resin behind. If you removed some resin to start with, add it in now, separate the resins and remove it. Add the rest of the lye solution to the container with the brown resin in it. There should be enough liquid in the container for the resin to float. Stir the resin occasionally.
Now take the hose from the bottom of the TWP, and drain the water from the TWP. Run atleast a gallon of water into the TWP from the top, and drain it out in this manner to rinse the resin. Drain the water level in the TWP down to the top of the carbon. Now add the acid solution to the TWP. Stir the resin gently without disturbing the carbon beneath it. Let this sit for up to an hour, stirring occasionally. The resin should start to change color from dark blue to a bright green. Stir it until it is completely bright green again, which would indicated that the cation resin is completely recharged. At this point, drain the TWP and rinse the resin with a couple gallons of water. Put all of the water drained from the TWP into the waste bucket. The acid is supposed to score the carbon and make it reusable, but I remove mine to keep junk from getting back into the filter. You'll probably need to remove the green cation resin from the TWP and store it while removing the carbon. Mark how high the carbon went up the TWP tube, and refill with new carbon to that height (or even a little higher) after rinsing out the TWP. Rinse any poly pads or carbon pads, and put them back on top of the carbon. Then put the green resin back into the TWP.
After the brown anion resin has had about an hour to recharge it is ready to be rinsed. Stir it again. Use the turkey baster to remove all of the liquid from beneath the resin in the container. Add new water to the container, stir the resin, and remove the water. Repeat this process using 1-2 gallons of water. Put all of the water used for rinsing into the waste bucket. After the final rinse, remove as much water as possible from the container, then add the brown resin back into the TWP, and cover it with the poly pads or carbon pads. The resins may occupy a smaller volume at first, so be sure to keep the spring that comes with the TWP. At this point, hook up the TWP as you would normally use it, and run a gallon or so through it, to go into the waste bucket. After that, run a few more gallons through it, which can drain directly into the sink.
The water in the waste bucket should now be neutralized. You'll probably notice the water in the bucket turn cloudy and yellow. After a half hour or so, most of the junk should settle out on the bottom of the bucket. At this point in the recharging process, you'll want to take a good look at the junk and say: "Thank God I Filter My Tap Water" ;-)
You should now be able to drain this without any negative consequences.
Expect it to take around 2 hours the first time. Subsequent recharges will take less time as you will know the procedure and the resins will already be separated. If you know people who are tossing out exhausted TWP cartridges, ask them to save them for you so you can recharge them and stockpile DI resins. DI resin costs around $60 per gallon, so save up as much as you can especially when it's free :-) You should have a minimum of two cartridges before recharging, as you will lose just a little bit of resin each time you recharge (it tends to stick to stuff). Recharge the resins again when about one half of the cation resin has turned blue.
This product is a heavily edited rendition of Gary V. Deutschmann's TWP Recharge Kit instructions.

[MTCarNut]

WOW! That is a ton of work. Thanks for the write up. I might just give it a try and save $150 in new resin.

Just curious, is the Buckeye Supply resin the same quality as the CR Spotless resin? I wouldn't mind saving some money if the quality is similar and it lasts the same.

[oldmodman]

Only the very first paragraph was my writing. Everything past is a copy/pasted from the sites listed. Personally, I have never heard of Buckeye Supply. I Googled the name and came up with oilfield supply companies, a football memorabilia company, engineering supply companies, and a heating and air conditioning contractor. Maybe they went out of business or they are not an American company.
But all the supplies listed can be had at orchard Supply, Home depot, Tractor Supply and so on. Just determined by where in the country you go shopping.