How does silica get into water

This method requires a large capital investment and is very costly due to the chemicals needed and the sludge generated, which requires disposal. This is a method that would not be economically practicable in a residential application.

Silica molecules have a negative charge, so anion resin is needed to remove them. The biggest problem is that the anion resin needs to be regenerated with caustic soda NaOH , which is a huge safety concern, especially in a residential application. Because of that, ion exchange is not recommended in residential applications.

Ultrafiltration or UF will only remove colloidal silica, so you must first determine whether your silica is colloidal or reactive silica. This can easily be accomplished with a UF Pilot Stick pictured to the right. You simply connect it to a garden hose and run several gallons through it in order to validate whether it is colloidal or reactive silica.

If it is colloidal silica, then ultrafiltration is the way to go. If the silica is reactive silica, then Reverse Osmosis is the most practical method to remove it from the water supply. Reverse osmosis will reduce both colloidal and reactive silica, but proper pretreatment is necessary, including oxidation of iron, sulfur, and manganese, removal of chlorine, and chloramine, while hardness must be treated with a water softener or an Anti- Scalant.

It is also recommended that the RO system incorporate a permeate flush, which means that the membranes are soaked with RO water, so that scale, including silica, will not foul the membrane surface.

This is an emerging technology that shows a great deal of promise but on an industrial or municipal level. It seems doubtful to me that it would ever be utilized in a residential application. Removing silica in a commercial or industrial application will often be different depending upon several variables. However, reverse osmosis with permeate flush and proper pretreatment is the leading technology, as it removes both forms of silica.

These deposits are very tough and normal calcium scale removers acids will not remove silica deposits. There are only a few ways to reduce silica in the water and most of these are not applicable to residential settings. Silica binds to the MgOH and settles out. This method is impractical for residential use. Specialized polymeric ultra-filters have been developed for industrial water treatment to capture silica.

They can be used on collodial silica but not reactive silica. They are expensive and have not been scaled down for residential use. This ion-exchange method can be used for reactive silica, but not colloidal silica.

Regeneration of the resins is restricted to industrial applications due to hazardous material handling required. For residential settings, whole house RO is one way to reduce all types of silica. Because it is so difficult to remove silica from the water, the most common approach to deal with it is one of prevention and mitigation of deposits:.

Give us a call or fill out the form to the right of this page to get your FREE water test on-site to determine if you have elevated levels of silica in your water. Strong anion base resin is rarely used in smaller commercial or domestic applications as it is regenerated with caustic soda, which is a dangerous chemical to handle and may be subject to disposal requirements.

Reverse osmosis is more commonly used, but more in commercial applications than domestic due to the cost and space of the plant required. What is Silica? Silica also known as silicon dioxide, is a compound made up of silicon and oxygen. How does Silica get into my water? What does Silica do?

How can I remove silica?