Patent ID: 7390414

Claim:
A method for optimizing the capacity of chemically treated zeolite for the removal of a target analyte from a drinking water supply, the method comprising: providing an amount of chemically treated zeolite, the chemically treated zeolite having a number of analyte binding sites absorptive for a target analyte in a drinking water supply; constraining the amount of chemically treated zeolite in a housing member for continuous contact with the drinking water supply; determining an amount of drinking water supply to pass through the chemically treated zeolite in order to load the analyte binding sites of the chemically treated zeolite with target analyte as well as other contaminates within the drinking water supply; and passing a regenerating wash through the loaded chemically treated zeolite to selectively strip the other contaminates, with a selected pH, from the analyte binding sites while the target analyte remains selectively bound to the analyte binding sites; wherein the stripped other contaminates provide additional analyte binding sites for target analyte within the drinking water supply thereby improving the capacity of the treated zeolite for the removal of the target analyte, and wherein the drinking water supply is discharged from the chemically treated zeolite with a level of analyte below a known threshold value.