Abstract
Although the leaching of sulfate from a strongly acidic cation-exchange resin has been ascribed to the contamination of sulfuric acid in the manufacturing processes, this phenomenon could be related to the hydrolysis reaction of sulfo groups in the resin. The sulfate desorption was an endothermic pseudo-zeroth order reaction. The activation enthalpy, entropy, and free energy were determined using the rate constants observed at different temperatures. The sulfate desorption was remarkably affected by the counter ions in the order of H+, Na+<Ca2+<La3+.
