Things You Should Know About Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier

A water purifier is a vital instrument for today life because it removes all the waterborne disease-causing agent and allows you to live a waterborne disease-free life. It uses several types of technology for the water purification, but reverse osmosis (RO) is mostly used techniques in the water purification process because it delivers the purest form of water for any purposes. Most of the people are confused about the water purifier and its importance. In this article, I am sharing all the information about the reverse osmosis water purifier.

Reverse osmosis versus Simple osmosis:

Reverse osmosis is the most popular term in the field of water purification system. It is a technique which is opposite to the simple osmosis process. In reverse osmosis water or solvent is allowed to pass through a semi-permeable membrane under the influence of external pressure. To under the reverse osmosis process, you should know about osmosis process. Osmosis is defined as the flow of fluid molecules from a low concentration of solutes to the high level of solutes. It is a spontaneous process and requires some external pressure. This external pressure is regarded as osmotic pressure. Osmosis is an automatic process, so it does not need energy whereas reverse osmosis is against the concentration gradient so this process demand energy.

Osmosis occurs to achieve the equilibrium, i.e., osmotic balance; it balances the concentration of the solute and fluids acrosses the semi-permeable membrane. Osmosis process is very much prevalent in the biological process whereas reverse osmosis shows its application in the various water purification process. A water purification process is used to treat impure water to deliver pure and healthy water. There are many processes which show its application in the water purification process, but reverse osmosis is the widely accepted way to treat impure water since the 1950s.

Why does water need to purify?

Water is a natural solvent which can dissolve almost every solute in it hence it is also known as a universal solvent. This property of water makes it unsuitable for the drinking purposes. In India, drinking water quality is inferior hence it needs an effective way to treat impure water. A UN report says that India’s rank is 120th among the 122 countries, in terms of water quality.

Water contains different types of impurities such as dissolved solids, unwanted minerals, biological waste, pharmaceutical waste, Radioactive waste, etc. which needs to be flush out from the drinking water because it can cause several types of water borne diseases in you. Most of the waterborne diseases are deadly if not appropriately treated. Waterborne diseases kill millions of lives every year in which the number of children is very high. The immune system of the children is not well developed, so the waterborne diseases affect the child more than the adult one. Some of the waterborne diseases are Cholera, Typhoids, Diarrhoea, Dysentery &, etc.

Working of Reverse osmosis system

Water feed into the reverse osmosis system pass through mainly four steps these steps are

1. Pre-filtration process
2. Reverse osmosis process
3. Post-filtration process

Pre-filtration:

It is the first step in the reverse osmosis process, and it is primarily used to protect the reverse osmosis membrane. Its work is to remove the dissolved salts and to reduce the concentration of the chlorine from the water. This step is regarded as sedimentation, and it is based on the filter which is called a sediment filter or spun. The sediment filter is just like a sieve with certain pore size. The pore size of the sediment filter is in micron, and anything which pours size is more than that can't pass through 

Reverse osmosis Process:

Your water is forced to pass through the membrane which is selectively permeable under the external pressure. It is also known as RO membrane which is made up of synthetic material and only allows water to pass through it and block the passage for the larger molecules such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses. An RO membrane contains several pores which have a certain size. The RO membrane pore size is about the 0.0001 which does not allow the molecules which size is more than that. Reverse osmosis water purifier is certified for the reduction of lead, arsenic, copper, nitrates, nitrites, etc.

Post-filtration process

It is also called as second carbon filter which removes all those impurities which remain in the water after the sedimentation and reverse osmosis process and provide final polishing to the sea. This polishing also improves the taste of the water. It also removes the remained flavor & refinement of your drinking water.

Benefits of Reverse osmosis water purifier:

Revokes Lead

An excess amount of lead in your body can cause brain damage, infertility, the problem in nerves system and muscle development. According to the center for the Disease and Prevention, a reverse osmosis system removes the excess amount of the lead from the water and making it safe for the drinking purposes.

Eliminate Cryptosporidium

It is a parasite which is mainly present in the water, but a Reverse osmosis membrane does not allow it to pass through the layer. This parasite affects the small intestine and can cause stomach cramp, fever & Diarrhea.

Enhance taste

Reverse osmosis water purifier removes all types of impurities from the water. It removes approximately 90-95% of dissolved and enhances the flavor of the drinking water. Water is a tasteless & odorless substance, but impurities can add some taste and odor in the water.

About The Author
Abhishek Kumar
M.tech (Biotechnology)