Presented at the conference on Desalination and the Environment. Sponsored by the European Desalination Society selective ion exchange resins containing N-methyl glucamine groups N. Kabay a *, S. Sarp a , M. Yuksel a , M. Kitis b , H. Koseog a lu b , Ö. Arar c , M. Bryjak d , R. Semiat e a Ege University, Department of Chemical Engineering, 35100 Izmir, Turkey Tel. +90-232-3880016; Fax +90-232-3741401; email: nalan.kabay@ege.edu.tr b Suleyman Demirel University, Department of Environmental Engineering, 32260 Isparta, Turkey c Ege University, Department of Chemistry, 35100 Izmir, Turkey d Wroclaw University of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Poland e The Rabin Desalination Laboratory, TECHNION, Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute (GWRI), Israel Received 7 January 2007; accepted 15 January 2007 Abstract The objective of this study is to explore the performance of the boron selective ion exchange resins for boron removal from seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) permeate. A lab-scale cross-flow flat-sheet configuration test unit (SEPA CF II, Osmonics) and FilmTec RO membranes were used for batch-mode RO tests. Seawater samples containing 5.1 mg B/L were collected from the Mediterranean Sea. The chelating ion exchange resins containing N-methyl glucamine groups (Diaion CRB 02 and Dowex-XUS 43594.00 resins) were employed for batch and column-mode tests to remove boron from SWRO permeate. Optimum resin amount for boron removal from SWRO permeate was found as 1 g resin/L for both Diaion and Dowex resins. The equilibrium half-time for B removal was between 30 and 45 min for Dowex and 20–30 min for Diaion resins. Sorption kinetics for these resins fit to Ho pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Both resins exhibited large breakthrough capacities with boron leakage of less than 0.2 mg B/L. Breakthrough capacity was influenced by space velocity. Boron loaded onto the resins was quantitatively eluted with 5% H 2 SO 4 solution. Keywords: Boron; Boron selective resins; Desalination; Ion exchange; Reverse osmosis (RO); Seawater; Sorption kinetics *Corresponding author. Removal of boron from SWRO permeate by boron Desalination 223 (2008) 49–56 0011-9164/06/$– See front matter © 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. and Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Sani Resort, Halkidiki, Greece, April 22–25, 2007. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2007.01.199