What Does
Weak Base Load Faction Mean?
Weak base load faction refers to the sum of the chloride, sulfate and nitrate in water. It has an impact in ion-exchange resin during removal of salts of strong acids.
The materials measured with weak base load faction commonly cause corrosion in boilers and processing units.
Weak base load faction is also known as theoretical mineral acidity (TMA) and total salts of strong acids.
Corrosionpedia Explains Weak Base Load Faction
Weak base load faction is the sum of the chloride, sulfate, and nitrate ions in the feed water, while free mineral acidity (FMA) is the sum of the chloride, sulfate and nitrate in acid form (HCl, H2SO4, HNO3). These two terms are commonly used in describing demineralizing of water.
A demineralizing system consists of one or more ion exchange resin columns, which include a strong acid cation unit and a strong base anion unit. A measure of the total concentration of strong acids in the cation effluent is the free mineral acidity. If cation exchange were 100% efficient, the FMA from the exchanger would be equal to the theoretical mineral acidity of the water. The FMA is usually slightly lower than the TMA because a small amount of sodium leaks through the cation exchanger. Sodium leakage causes free mineral acidity to be different from total mineral acidity in the cation exchange portion of deionization.
Weak base cations (WBC) are used to remove salts of strong acids (Cl–, NO3–, SO4) from water.