Explain the process of reverse osmosis in detail and how it is works?
Reverse osmosis is a method of separation where pressure is applied to a solution, and the solvent is forced through a semipermeable membrane from an area of low concentration to another, leaving the solutes behind. Fresh water and other small solution components can get across the membrane, while bigger molecules like salts and other contaminants cannot.
This technique is frequently employed as an alternative to distillation for the purification of water, since it is efficient at concentrating pollutants, recovering contaminated solvents, cleaning up dirty streams, desalinating seawater, recycling wastewater, obtaining potable water, etc.
Now, let us discuss in detail the process of reverse osmosis, its working, applications, and the various processes related to it.
What is Reverse osmosis?
Reverse osmosis or RO eliminates the pollutants from water which is unfiltered, as well as the feed water, when pressure pushes the water through semi-permeable membrane. To produce clean drinking water, water flows from the more concentrated side of the RO membrane, which has more impurities to the less concentrated side, which has less contaminant. The produced water is known as the permeate. The leftover concentrated water is known as waste or brine.
Small pores in a semipermeable membrane allow for the passage of water molecules, but impede the passage of pollutants.
How does reverse osmosis work?
Almost, all of the dissolved salts (between 95% and 99%) are left behind in the reject stream of reverse osmosis, by utilising a high pressure pump to increase pressure on the salt side of the RO, and force the water past the semi-permeable RO membrane. The amount of pressure required depends on the salt concentration of the input water. More pressure is required to overcome the osmotic pressure, the more concentrated the feed water is.
Recycling of the reject water in RO Plants
Salts and other contaminants are not allowed to pass through the semi-permeable membrane, as the feed water enters the RO membrane under pressure (enough pressure to overcome osmotic pressure). These are eliminated through the reject stream, often referred to as the concentrate or brine stream, which is flushed down the toilet or, in certain situations, sent back into the feed water supply to be recycled through the RO Plant.
Mechanism/principle of reverse osmosis
It's crucial to realise that a RO system uses cross filtration as opposed to traditional filtration, in which the pollutants are gathered within the filter material. With cross filtration, the water is filtered in one direction and polluted in the other, when the solution flows through or crosses the filter.
Cross flow filtration prevents the build-up of contaminants by allowing water to flush away contaminant build-up, and enough turbulence to keep the membrane surface clean.
Common Commercial Reverse Osmosis (RO) System (Commercial RO Plants) applications:
1: Food & Beverage Industry
2: Agriculture
3: Boiler Feed
4: Disaster Relief
5: Dental Clinics
6: Hospital
7: Hotel
8: Marine
9: Military
10: Mining
11: Pharmaceutical
12: Power & Energy
13: Textile
14: Laundry
15: Resorts and camping sites
16: Metal finishing, etc.
Are good minerals removed by Reverse Osmosis?
Every city's and water source's tap water is different. Some tap water contains a lot of minerals, which can change the way it tastes and smells. Most minerals may be removed from water by using a reverse osmosis filter, which also substantially enhances the aesthetics of drinking water.
The removal of the minerals does not render RO-filtered water unhealthy since the minerals in water are in an inorganic state, which human bodies cannot process. Remember that while minerals are necessary for good health, the majority of the minerals our bodies require to be healthy, and in a form that our systems can digest come from food.
What pollutants are removed from water by reverse osmosis? Which contaminants are removed by the reverse osmosis process?
Although, a RO system or RO Plant shouldn't be relied upon to completely eradicate bacteria and viruses. It is capable of removing up-to 99% of the dissolved salts, the colloids, organics, bacteria, etc from the feed water.
Contaminant removal from RO plants on the basis of charge and size
The reverse osmosis membranes reject contaminants, based on their size as well as charge. Any contaminant with a molecular weight greater than 200, is likely to be rejected by an effective RO Plant. The higher an impurity's ionic charge, the less likely it will be able to pass through the RO membrane.
Example:
As CO2 is not substantially ionised (charged) while in solution and have a very low molecular weight, it is not removed by a RO system very well.
Also, you know that the RO Plants do not remove gases, because the pH level of the permeate water is slightly less than usual, which depends on the amount of CO2 which is present in the feed water, during the process of CO2 being converted to carbonic acid.
What percentage (%) of contaminants can a Reverse Osmosis System remove?
The approximate contaminant removal capacity of RO plant is given below:
· Fluoride-85-92
· Lead-95-98
· Chlorine-98
· Pesticides-up to 99
· Nitrates-60-75
· Sulfate-96-98
· Calcium-94-98
· Phosphate-96-98
· Arsenic-92-96
· Nickel-96-98
· Mercury-95-98
· Sodium-85-94
· Barium-95-98%)
Calculations for RO Plants’ performance
Some of the calculations are used for both design considerations, as well as the performance evaluation of RO Plant. Other instrumentations in RO plants shows flow, quality, pressure, as well as information like temperature & operating hours.
The following operational metrics are necessary in order to appropriately assess the performance of a RO system, at the very least:
1: Feed conductivity
2: Permeate conductivity
3: Feed flow
4: Permeate flow
5: Temperature
6: Feed pressure
7: Permeate pressure
8: Concentrate pressure
Why is a RO storage tank necessary?
RO water is kept in a Reverse osmosis storage tank so we always have access to it, whenever we need it. 2-3 ounces of RO water are produced in a minute during the RO process. You would need to wait at least five minutes, for your faucet to fill up a glass, at the actual membrane production rate.
Benefits of RO Plants or reverse osmosis systems
It is healthier to drink RO water because 98% of the dissolved solids are almost removed. It is a very effective system that lowers TDS or total dissolved solid content from water or wastewater, and thus can be recycled and repurposed. It is used in:
1: Reduction of harmful dissolved contaminants
2: Decrease in the sodium content
3: Reduces unpleasant tastes and smells
4: Less harmful to the environment
5: Simple to install and keep up
Do RO plants waste water?
A reverse osmosis system delivers water containing rejected impurities, down the drain as wastewater. As it flows through the RO system, water separates into two streams. The minerals, dissolved impurities, and salts are delivered in one stream to the drain, while the filtered water flows in another stream to a selected faucet.
Rejected pollutants from a reverse osmosis system are transported to the drain in the brine, sometimes known as "wastewater." For every gallon of water produced, 4 gallons of water are lost through the drain. It is our duty as the environmental stewards to reduce the volume of water, which is poured down the drain and, thus boost the RO plants effectiveness.
How to reduce wastewater in a RO system?
1: Insert a permeate pump. The greatest way to boost a reverse osmosis system's effectiveness is to add a permeate pump.
2: Choose a RO system with a valve that automatically shuts off. An ASO valve shuts off the water flow to the drain, once the storage tank is full.
3: Utilize the water that the RO rejects for artificial lakes or landscaping. Although, drain water contains more total dissolved solids (TDS), it is acceptable to use in your garden or lawn.
Is reverse osmosis environmentally friendly?
Chemicals and other impurities must be taken out of the water that drains from your house or industry, before it can be recycled. Either diluted wastewater is transferred to a water treatment plant to make it easier to process, or untreated wastewater is routed to riverbeds to be naturally filtered through the hydrologic cycle.
Cleaning of RO Membranes
Reverse osmosis membranes needs to be cleaned once a year-four times a year. It depends on the quality of feed water. If the normalised pressure has decreased or the normalised salt passage has increased by 15%, it is time to clean the RO membranes. Also, when the normalised permeate flow has been decreased by 15%, than it is also time to clean the reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.
The RO membranes can be cleaned on-site or by having a service provider. It has been demonstrated that off-site membrane cleaning outperforms on-site cleaning, in terms of cleaning quality.
Finally, to eliminate pollutants from the RO membrane, low and high pH cleaners are used.
Organics, colloidal dirt, and biofouling are treated with a high pH cleaner, whereas scaling is dealt with by low pH cleaners. A skilled service team must take into account a variety of additional elements, including flows, water quality and temperature, the design and size of the cleaning skids, and many more, in order to effectively clean RO membranes.
Are you still confused about the reverse osmosis process for the treatment of water and wastewater?
Netsol Water Solutions is the leading manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of a quality selection of water treatment and wastewater treatment plants in India.
Commercial RO Plants, Industrial RO Plants, Water softeners, ETPs, DM plants, UV water purification systems, STPs, ZLD plants, AMC, O&M, and other goods and services are available from us. We also provide water treatment solutions to automotive, pulp & paper, beverages, pharmaceutical, textile, refineries, schools, hotels, hospitals, office buildings, among others.
Call us at +91 9650608473 or email at enquiry@netsolwater.com for further information.
