Some Change’s in Cation Composition of Milk Caused by Ion Exchange Treatment

Abstract

Summary Solutions containing various concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium have been, used for the conditioning of ion exchange resins, the resins then being used for the removal of radiostrontium and/or radiocesium from milk. Using the batch technique at a milk: resin ratio of 20, resins in the calcium form caused an increase in calcium concentration in the milk of about 22 meq/liter balanced by losses in sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Likewise, sodium resin treatment increased the sodium concentration about 59 meq/liter of milk, balanced by losses in calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Resins conditioned with solutions containing mixtures of these four elements caused changes in the composition of milk which reflected largely the concentration of that element in the regenerant. In general, the changes were minimized when the resin regenerant composition, on the basis of meq-fraction, approached that of milk. The concentration of regenerant, between 1,200 and 1,700 meq/liter had but little influence. Approximately 50% of the radiostrontium and 60% of the radiocesium were removed by this method. By the use of a column technique the strontium removal was shown to be more constant than the cesium removal. The concentration of Ca, Mg, Na, and K in the milk changed as the milk continued to flow through the column.