Resumen
This paper investigated the regeneration viability of NaY Zeolite columns previously exchanged with trivalent chromium ions. The direct exchanges were carried out with 15 ppm solution and the reverse ones were carried out with 3 distinct NaCl solutions: 0.1 mol/L; 1.0 mol/L and 2.0 mol/L. All the runs were done in a flow rate of 9 mL/min with an average particle size of 0.180 mm. Five exchange/regeneration cycles were studied to reach the aim of this research. It was observed that NaY zeolite had a close affinity for trivalent ions which makes the regeneration process difficult and promotes a progressive accumulation of chromium in the fixed bed. Only at 2.0 mol/L all chromium ions retained were released in short operation time, which indicated that the concentration extended the lifetime of the columns.