Water Filter System - Reverse Osmosis

 

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis is the process of pushing a solution through a filter that traps the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to be obtained from the other side.

This means, contaminated water is forced trough a very fine membrane and only purest water comes out on the other side.

The waste of water is enormous, because only 25 % from the filtered water can be used as drinking water, the rest is waste water.

The pressure needed is usually about 2-14 bar (20-200 psi) and normally there is no pressure pump needed.

Portable reverse osmosis (RO) water processors are sold for personal water purification in the home.

These units are gravity powered (they need no water pump), and need no electricity.

The pressure of gravity pushes/drains the water though the filters, much like a coffee-maker filter.

A filter lasts for a few years before replacement is needed.

RO water processors are used by people who live in rural areas without clean water, far away from the city's water pipes.

Rural people filter river or ocean water(needs a high pressure pump !) themselves, as the device is easy to use.

Some travelers on long boating trips, fishing, island camping, or in countries where the local water supply is polluted or substandard, use RO water processors.

RO systems are also now used by marine aquarium enthusiasts, as the domestic water supply contains substances that are extremely toxic to most species of saltwater fish.

Some RO systems may include additional water treatment stages that use ultraviolet light or ozone to prevent microbiological contamination.)

Membrane pore sizes can vary from 1 to 50,000 angstroms.

Reverse osmosis is in the final category of membrane filtration, "Hyper filtration," and removes particles larger than 1 angstrom

1 angstrom is 0.001 micron

Reverse osmosis removes significantly salt, most inorganic material and some organic compounds.

Even most viruses are removed, but only if the membrane is in top condition.

RO systems should be used only with biological save water, nothing is perfect. :-)

The smaller system do not need electricity or a high pressure pump and produce a higher amount of water per day than distillers.

Reverse osmosis systems are using pre filters and carbon filters to protect the membrane from sediments and chlorine, the later would damage the membrane immediately.

The carbon filter is also needed for reducing other volatile organic chemicals (VOC's), pesticides and some other harmful solvents.

RO systems do not need electricity but rely on a relatively high water pressure, this means in an emergency your water system will be dead. 

The reverse osmosis system needs maintenance, periodically changing filters and cleaning the storage tank.

A faulty membrane is not easy to detect and could bring a lot of troubles to you, before you find out a damaged membrane, you will contaminated with toxins from the water.

And again, if you chose a reverse osmosis system, go to NSF International and check if your system is certified, this ensures you that you have a proper working unit and not a peace of junk.

Here you can see how atypical RO system looks like. On the picture you can see two tanks, that is only for demonstration, it needs only one tank.