A question asked by many before purchasing an RO system for their house is whether Reverse Osmosis membrane filtration is really effective. A majority of the population around the world that has used RO systems continue using the system for its effectiveness and efficiency alone. The process is the best method for filtration yet which is why it is used at a large scale in desalination plants too. But in general, here is how effective the process can be to improve the quality of drinking water.
- The water that comes through the supply is sent through water treatment systems at the local store which comes from the lake of a freshwater source. The fresh water contains various microorganisms and in order to avoid those, the treatment plant uses several chemicals.
- Now say, your supply has a mixture of sediments, chemicals, microorganisms and other impurities. Using an RO filter, the water has to pass through a membrane before getting into your daily consumption.
- Water is pushed through the membrane which is ultra thin and has semi permeable, tiny holes. The pore sizes of membrane usually can be found to be between 0.1 to 5,000 nanometer depending on the usage.
- When the water is pushed, only water particles are allowed on the other side and big chemical ions, sediments, impurities and microorganisms get stuck on the other side of the membrane wall.
- Membrane pore sizes are decided on the basis of the amount of impurity quotient of the water supply they are dealing with. Which is why the complete process of RO is best considered for brackish, seawater and groundwater around industries that have more chances of contamination by salts and chemicals.
Membranes are the core of an RO system and should be dealt with care. It gets fouled by microorganisms and biofouling, generation of a layer on the impure side of the water system, making it difficult for the RO to run efficiently. The water pushed through the membrane requires a lot of energy and the more crowded it is on the surface of the membrane, the more energy is required. This makes the whole process energy and economically ineffective. Hence, membranes must be cleaned frequently using materials that do not harm the material. An expert serviceman should always be called for doing so and only verified products should be used. Ampac USA produces the world’s best RO systems and also provides membrane anti fouling accessories. With more than 30 years of experience, the company is a leader in producing water treatment equipment.
