What is Reverse Osmosis and how it works

How far do you think you can go without using water? Over-estimate yourself. Say "I can easily survive a week, I'll survive on juice". Well, that could be all fun and games if you didn't need water for your household chores, washing, for growing food, clothes making and literally every other thing you can think of. But what if we run out of water? You must have thought of using sea water but that's extremely saline. So what do we do? We do reverse osmosis. The heck! "What is it!" you must be thinking but worry not! After this article, you won't have to wonder what is reverse osmosis and how it works. You'll know!

Good to know

Before you start off, stop and ask yourself some basic questions. Where does your household water come from? Is it a nearby river? A lake? A groundwater aquifer? The next question you should be clear about it is your consumption of water. Obviously you can't know the exact amount but you can make a calculated guess. Next, what sorts of minerals does it contain? Before removing the harm, you should be sure if it even contains harm. Next thing that is a very good to know is, is it already filtered? But wait! How can you know all this? You can do a Drinking Water Quality Test. Simply put, you take a sample and then run it through some tests.

What is Osmosis

Considering that you have a fair knowledge of the word "reverse, we'll explain what Osmosis is and then reverse the idea.Consider you have two sources of water separated by a thin film in a beaker. One source is highly saline while the other is not so much. Naturally, the weaker saline solution will tend to move towards high saline solution. This naturally occurring process is called Osmosis. The thin film is such that it stops some particles to move through the film and stops the others.

Reverse Osmosis

Now that you understand Osmosis, reverse it. That's reverse Osmosis. Simple enough? Yes! But there's a catch. While Osmosis is a naturally occurring process, reverse osmosis is a "forced" process. In Reverse Osmosis(RO), stronger saline solution will move towards the weaker saline solution. Since we are reversing the natural process, we need an external force.

How Reverse Osmosis works

To make the strong saline solution move towards weaker saline solution, pressure is applied. Strong and Weak saline water is separated by a thin membrane that stops certain particles to go towards the weaker saline solution. The process is cross-filtration. This means that there are two openings in the apparatus. One opening separates out strong saline solution, called Reject Stream. The other opening, called Permeate Water ejects out clean or weaker saline solution. The question here is now, what sort of materials are separated out?

What is removed during Reverse Osmosis?

The thin membrane filters out contaminants on the basis of size and molecular charge and can remove up to 99%+ of contaminants. These contaminants are dissolved salts (ions), particles, colloids, organics, bacteria and pyrogens. A typical RO membrane will remove any molecule which has molecular weight more than 200.

Advantages

In case we have an apocalypse and run out of clean drinking water, RO will be our hero. We can remove excess salt from sea water and use it for house hold purpose. Even if we do not have a apocalypse at hand, we still live through it everyday. Water quality effects all major aspects of life. Of both human and aquatic. According to UNEP's report, drinking water quality is declining each day. Although at several rates in different continents. Reverse Osmosis filtration system are being installed at home and buildings to avoid unnecessary intake of minerals. Industries like pharmacy, food and beverages and agriculture are already using RO filters to increase water quality. And you should too! Time to get a move on and get a report of your water supply! Take samples, go to a lab, see the results and call for a filtration system to be set up. Bottled water might spring up as a solution to you but come on! It exhausts your wallet and planet as well. Better use tap water. So get those RO filters and save the planet (And your wallet and health) as well!If you are still confused where to get the filters, get in touch with us and we'll be more than ready to help you.