Reverse Osmosis
Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems are often used to:
q Dramatically reduce the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) from process water by 98% to 99%
q Remove certain hazardous elements and contaminants from dissolved in process water
q Purify water to high levels required by specific downstream processes
Reverse Osmosis (RO) operates on the same principal as the semi-permeable membranes present in every living cell. RO Membranes are permeable only to water molecules, and under pressure, split a feedwater stream into two parts; purified water, called permeate, and the rejected contaminants, called concentrate. Due to the fact that water fed into an RO is split into two paths, an RO, unlike other conventional water treatment technologies, may be described in terms of its efficiency in “Recovery” of purified water from a contaminated feedwater stream.
Note: Water purification by RO takes place at the molecular level; therefore the efficiency and lifespan of the RO Membranes is directly correlated to the quality of the upstream filtration, or Pretreatment.
Important Note: The “Production” of a given RO system is affected by the size of the system, TDS, and Water Temperature.
The Reverse Osmosis Process:
The Reverse Osmosis Process uses a semi-permeable membrane to separate and remove dissolved solids, organics, pyrogens, submicron colloidal matter, viruses and bacteria from water. The process is called 'Reverse" osmosis since it requires pressure to force water across a membrane, laeving impurities to pass to a waste stream. Reverse osmosis (RO) is capable of removing 95-99% of total dissolved solids (TDS) and 99% of all bacteria, thus providing safe, purified water.
Reverse osmosis reverses the natural tendency of a semipermeable membrane to move salts from low concentrations to high concentrations.
How it Works...
A semipermeable thin-film composite (TFC) membrane flat sheet is laminated to a porous carrier and folded around a permeate spacer, membrane face in, to create an envelope which is glued along the free edges. Each “leaf”(as many as 30 - yielding as much as 400 square feet in an 8” element) is then sandwiched between feed spacers and glued to the permeate tube. The permeate tube is perforated to collect water that migrates across the membrane via reverse osmosis, so-called because, in normal osmosis (demonstrated in living cells of plants and animals), salty water migrates across a semipermeable membrane to raise the salt concentration of less salty water on the other side. Under pressure, this process is reversed. The channels, or pores of the polyamide membrane are around 0.001 micrometers. If you could scale up a one foot square piece of membrane so that the pores were the size of pin holes, you would wind up with 635,000 square feet; that is 14.6 acres, or more than 11 football fields!
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