Is demineralized water necessary for hydrogen production?
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I have a question: is demineralized water necessary for hydrogen production equipment? Would softened water work? Could the water quality affect the catalyst, or is there some other reason?
Softened water has its hardness reduced, with calcium and magnesium ions removed from it. Desalinated water has an even better quality than softened water, as it also removes other impurities such as iron ions; these can affect the performance of catalysts, which is why softened water is used
Our process focuses mainly on keeping the chloride ion content low – 10 PPM or less is sufficient
Softening water actually merely removes hard salts such as calcium and magnesium ions from the water. There is no problem with filling the boiler with water. However, the impact on the catalyst was not considered. We now know that chloride ion content has a significant impact on catalyst toxicity; generally, we keep it below 2 PPM. Reverse osmosis must be added.
Softened water is water from which hardness ions such as calcium and magnesium have been removed; sodium or hydrogen ion exchange resins are generally used for this purpose, and only the cations are removed； Moreover, the deionized water must undergo anion exchange to remove substances such as chlorine and sulfate ions.
It is correct to remove calcium and magnesium ions, but the power plants in our factory often malfunction, resulting in a shortage of softened water; therefore, we have to use fresh water as a substitute