Engelhard Titanosilicate molecular sieve, ETS-10, has unique selectivity and adsorption capacity for gas separation. Microwave heating was found to be a more efficient technique for regeneration of ETS-10 compared to conventional temperature swing regeneration. However, microwave regeneration of ETS-10 can be further improved by modifying its dielectric properties. This research investigated the effect of ion exchange of ETS-10 on its dielectric, adsorption and microwave regeneration properties. Monovalent and divalent cations (Li+, K+, Ca2+, Cu2+, and Ba2+) were used for ion exchanging ETS-10. The analysis of ion-exchanged samples showed a decrease in their dielectric properties, resulting in decreased microwave absorbance during regeneration. However, increasing the water adsorption capacity and decreasing the dielectric properties of the adsorbent resulted in up to 27% increase of ETS-10 regeneration efficiency, suggesting that adsorbate heating is more effective than adsorbent heating when desorbing polar adsorbates. Among the ion exchanged samples, Li-ETS-10 is the most suitable candidate for microwave regeneration when loaded with polar adsorbate, based on adsorption capacity, desorption efficiency, and energy consumption. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.