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One of the more common methods of treating water is through the process of reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is probably best known for its role in desalinization, which is how seawater is turned into consumable freshwater. Reverse osmosis is based on the process of osmosis, which moves water or other liquids from one side of a semipermeable membrane to another. To produce clean water from a contaminated sample, water is forced at high pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. Through this process, contaminants are left on one side of the membrane while cleaner water proceeds through it. Pressure is applied to the contaminated water which is a concentrated solution, reversing the natural flow of water and forcing the contaminated water, which is now cleansed, through the membrane and into a now dilute solution. The newly treated water is collected into an attached storage container and the unwanted water is washed away as waste. Different levels of contamination require different amounts of pressure to treat the water. For example, the process of producing purified water from a tap requires 10 times less water pressure than seawater.
Reverse osmosis is frequently used to reduce the levels of total dissolved solids and even suspended particles in water. It can also help to reduce the amounts of organic materials, inorganic materials, and bacteria which may possibly contaminate drinking water. Some of the materials and elements that reverse osmosis removes from water include: aluminum, arsenic, asbestos, barium, benzene, cadmium, calcium, chloride, chlorine, chromium, copper, fluoride, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, mercury, nitrate, potassium, radium, radon, silver, sodium, sulfate, and zinc. However, reverse osmosis may not always remove hydrogen sulfide, a gas with a distinctive rotten egg odor. Reverse osmosis can also filter microorganisms out of water, but it is not recommended for this use since it may cause deterioration to the membrane used in the filtration system. In turn, it can cause recontamination because the microorganisms can eat through the membrane and pass through the process unharmed.
Many reverse osmosis systems are in the 75-80 percent recovery efficiency range, meaning that for every 100 gallons of water used in the system, 75-80 gallons of pure product water are produced. The temperature of the contaminated water has a great effect on the amount of water treated, and for every degree below the standard 77 degrees F, the amount of water treated decreases by 1-2 percent.
The typical reverse osmosis water treatment system involves a pretreatment filter, membrane, storage tank, flow regulator, dispensing faucet, and a post-treatment filter and can be quite costly. Before implementing a reverse osmosis system, owners should have their water checked professionally by a lab or a local health department. Additionally, it should be understood by system owners that no reverse osmosis system can completely remove all contaminants from water sources.
Bibliography:
- Bill Andresen, “Treating Drinking Water Through Reverse Osmosis,” Prairie Water News (v.3/1, 1993);
- Jodi Kocher, “Drinking Water Treatment: Reverse Osmosis” (2003), semanticscholar.org.
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