The cost of decarbonation depends on the equipment already present.
Two types of decarbonation are distinguished:
- with lime, which consumes lime and produces sludge (with the advantage of eliminating part of the suspended solids)
- on so-called "weak cationic" ion exchange resins, which are regenerated with acid
Upstream of a demineralization, decarbonation on resins is "free" because the regeneration is carried out with the excess reagent of the demineralization.
