All strongly basic ion exchange resins have the ability to split salts. This means that they can
remove weakly ionized species such as carbon dioxide and silica. Although hydroxide form strong
base anion resins, preference for silica is much lower than for sulfates and chlorides; it is significantly greater than for hydroxide. There is pretty good evidence that only when in the hydroxide form, does strong base anion resin exhibit any preference for silica. When in the hydroxide form, (SBA resin) preference for silica and for alkalinity are similar (at least we know that silica break generally occurs at about the same percentage exhaustion as alkalinity break). In the chloride form, or any other salt form, strong base anion resin has zero preference for silica (probably because silica is nonionized at typical raw water pH), although it still can be used for alkalinity removal.