Methods for softening hard water

The terms hard water and soft water are what we learn when we study chemistry in junior high school. In layman's terms, hard water is our cold water, and soft water is water that is boiled into hot water. In the study of chemistry courses, there are many ways to soften hard water. I believe that one method that most people know is the boiling method, which is to boil it. Do you know other methods of softening hard water? You can find out by reading the following introduction.

Hard water softening is the process of removing soluble salts such as calcium and magnesium in hard water. There are many methods to soften hard water, the commonly used ones are boiling method, chemical softening method, ion exchange softening method and so on.

Hard water does not cause direct harm to health, but it can bring a lot of trouble to life, such as scale formation on water-using utensils and reduced washing efficiency of soaps and detergents.

Hard water can cause great harm and even danger in industry. For example, it can cause scaling in industrial boilers, poor heat transfer and waste energy. It can also easily cause system operation failures and even explosions due to uneven heat transfer. Therefore, there are a variety of softening techniques.

Hard Water Hazards

The so-called "hard water" refers to the presence of dissolved minerals in the water, especially calcium and magnesium. The so-called "hard water" refers to water that contains a lot of dissolved minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. Hard water does not cause direct harm to health, but it can cause a lot of trouble in life, such as scale formation on water-using utensils and reduced washing efficiency of soaps and detergents.

The salt content in hard water is usually expressed as hardness. The unit of hardness is degree, and 1 degree is equivalent to 10 mg of calcium oxide per liter of water. Water with a hardness of 8 or above is usually called hard water. Groundwater (such as well water and spring water) has a high salt content and is considered hard water. In hard water, calcium and magnesium salts exist in the form of bicarbonates, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides and nitrates.

Hard water can cause great harm and even danger in industry. For example, it can cause scaling in industrial boilers, poor heat transfer, and waste of energy, and may even cause explosions due to uneven heat transfer.

Hardness classification

Water absorbs pollutants dissolved in the atmosphere during evaporation and precipitation;

Precipitation falls to the ground and dissolves dirt on the ground; as surface water seeps into the ground or flows into rivers, it continuously dissolves the minerals, chemicals, etc. that it comes into contact with.

Water dissolves calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) ions it comes into contact with during the water cycle, forming the hardness of the water.

Water hardness generally refers to the total concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in the water, measured in millimoles per liter (mmol/L). Generally, if 1L of water contains 10mg CaO or a substance equivalent to 10mg CaO, such as 7.1mg MgO, then the hardness of such water is called 1 degree.

Usually, water with a hardness of 0-4 degrees is called very soft water, 4-8 degrees is called soft water, 8-16 degrees is called medium hard water, 16-30 degrees is called hard water, and water above 30 degrees is called very hard water.