At times the ion exchange process considered may be new or with little operational information. Such parameters as: expected operating capacity, expected leakage, required regenerant dosages and concentration, specific flow rates, may need to be confirmed before designing a full scale plant based on the process.

This requires Pilot Testing.

Pilot testing can be done in the lab or can be done on-site. It is generally preferable to do the testing on-site because it will use the genuine feed to the pilot columns. Lab testing can be done by either shipping the feedwater to the lab or by testing with a synthetic water duplicating as much as possible the properties of the feedwater.

Ion Exchange Services (Canada) Inc. has conducted numerous pilot tests both on-site and in the Lab. It has the required hardware (IX Columns and pumps) to conduct such Pilot Studies.