REVERSE OSMOSIS

Reverse Osmosis

Water Treatment Equipment – Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis or (RO) can be described as a procedure whereby pure water and contaminate become divided via a semipermeable membrane(s). This method is a necessary technique employed in the majority of water purification systems. Reverse Osmosis is considered to be a highly effective approach to eliminating water impurities, such as: Toxic Heavy Metals ie Lead and Radium, Chlorinated Pesticides, Turbidity & Dissolved Solids.

RO is employed in many applications including waste purification, dialysis and hydrogen production. Additionally it is employed throughout the food industry.

Industrial Water Equipments RO range is available as either systems that requires Soft Water or require Antiscalant Dosing. Most of our standard range can be upgraded at later date simply by retrofitting extra membrane modules or pre-treatment modules in order to increase flow.

All our RO systems are manufactured within the UK and spares can be obtained easily from our website.

If you require further information regarding Reverse Osmosis please refer to our Technical Guides.

Firstly to understand RO you must initially understand the concept of Osmosis.

The Official Dictionary term for Osmosis is “ a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one”.

Osmosis works on the basic rule of Homeostasis. Enough water will pass through a semi permeable membrane in order to create an equilibrium. One example of this is a balloon, eventually a balloon will deflate due to the pressure of the air inside the balloon pushing out. The air will eventually escape through the microscopic holes in the wall of the balloon to equalise the pressure on the inside of the balloon to meet the outside of the balloon.

Reverse osmosis works by the same rules with the addition of an applied positive pressure. This applied pressure prevents the natural state of homeostasis and forces through more particles that fit through the semi-permeable membrane leaving those particles that are too big behind. Once captured in the semi permeable membrane, the contaminants can then be disposed of leaving behind water in its purest form.

A grand scale example of ro is – A fishing net has holes in large enough to let water and smaller fish escape but small enough to capture fish of the required size.

What will Reverse Osmosis Remove?

An RO system determines what it is going to reject based on the weight and their charge. Simplistically, an RO system will remove any molecules that are larger in size than a water molecule, thats approximately 0.0001 microns. An RO will also remove molecules with a higher molecule weight than 200. A water molecule has a weight of 18. The higher the charge of the contaminant, the more likely it is that the molecule will also be rejected and sent to waste.

In total a Reverse Osmosis Water Filter removes > 99.999% of all trace contaminants. Some of the molecules that are removed are Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulphates, Potassium, Nitrates, Iron, Mercury, Phosphate, Selenium, Lead, Arsenic, Magnesium, Nickel, Fluoride, Cadmium, Barium, Cyanide and Chloride to name a few!

An RO is also able to remove viruses and the smallest molecules of bacteria. Reverse Osmosis is now a well utilised technology within the treatment industry. In its infancy, the technology did come up against some criticism and disagreement amongst treatment professionals and industry experts. The product of RO has been referred to as ‘dead water’ due to the fact that all of the ‘good’ nutrients and minerals have been stripped away along with the other ‘bad’ contaminants. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Clarified that the majority of healthy minerals needed for the human body are sourced from food or dietary supplementary sources and not from drinking. To put it into context, to get the same amount of minerals as you would from a glass of orange juice, you would have to drink 30 gallons of tap water. Any claim that RO water is bad for you health or unfit for human consumption is usually wildly exaggerated. RO water is widely used in industry including pharmaceutical, food and beverage, metal finishing and boiler feed to name a few.