How Do They Work? Water Purifiers

Water purifiers have become a necessity for every household. Water purifiers ensure that you get clean and safe drinking water on demand so that you stay away from water-borne diseases.

There are different types of water filtration processes such as Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration (RO), Ultra Filtration (UF) and Ultra Violet disinfection (UV). You need to choose a water purification system depending on the quality of water.

Though we can easily get in touch with service professionals if there is a problem, it is always helpful to know how these systems function.

Reverse Osmosis system involves a simple water filtration mechanism. The filtration system includes passage of water or other solvents through a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane blocks the dissolved solutes that contaminate water.

The process filters out all sorts of contaminants such as ions, pesticides, micro-organisms and other chemicals from water.

This filtration process is one among the most effective methods of water purification. Desalination is the process of removal of salt from seawater Many water treatment plants now started using this Reverse Osmosis technique to deal with many water-related issues.

There are various components involved in a Reverse Osmosis system. The functions of the components that play an integral part in the RO system are as follows:

Pre-filters:

Water flowing through cold water line valve passes through the Reverse Osmosis Pre-Filters. Some of the commonly used pre-filters are sediment and carbon filters. These filters remove dirt, chlorine content and other sediments present in water to protect the membranes from damage.

Reverse Osmosis Membrane:

1. An RO purifier is equipped to filter toxins such as lead, mercury, arsenic, chlorine, and fluoride. These chemicals may cause diseases.

2. RO water purifiers use less energy compared to other purifiers, resulting in lower consumption of electricity.

3. RO purification improves the taste of water.

4. The maintenance of an RO filter is extremely simple. Servicing is required only twice a year.

RO Membrane is an important component of the system. The membrane serves the purpose of removing all sorts of contaminants in water. Water enters into the storage tank after this purification stage.

Storage tank:

As the name suggests, this tank purified treated water. The storage capacity of the purifiers differs, which is the reason why you need to check the usage before making the final decision.

Post-filters:

Before water stored in the storage tank runs out of the Reverse Osmosis faucet, it enters through the final post-filters. It is actually a carbon filter. Carbon filters remove bad odors from the water that you drink and also improves the taste of water.

Drain line:

The drain line is used to drain out the waste water which consists of dirt and other contaminants.

Ultra Violet disinfection:

It purifies water using a 3 stage purification process. The first stage involves suspended materials like dust and mud getting filtered out. In the second stage, all organic impurities, foul smell & bad taste, lead, pesticides and VOC are absorbed and removed. The third stage then deactivates virus, bacteria, protozoa and other disease-causing microorganisms.

Using ultraviolet rays to purify water, UV technology ensures water is as pure as when boiled for 20 minutes. In fact, it rules out the possibility of recontamination during cooling or handling the water, when boiling it manually.

UV purification ensures that no chemicals are used during the process, retaining all the essential minerals your body requires to remain healthy.

Ultra Violet disinfection usually involves a UV lamp. UV lamp provides pure and safe drinking water. The UV light used in this process is a high powered UV which is also known as UV-C or germicidal UV. UV-C rays penetrate into the body of pathogens to deactivate them.

The UV rays modify the DNA of the pathogens in such a way that they cannot multiply. These rays have the ability to kill 99.9% of the microorganisms.

Unlike chemical disinfection, the harmful microorganisms are unable to develop any immune mechanism against UV light.

The pre-treatment process maximizes the efficiency of the treatment. Water passes through the sediment filters, carbon filters during the pre-treatment phase. Sediment filters remove silt whereas carbon filters remove the organic impurities present in water.

Ultra Filtration:

Ultra-Filtration process uses hydrostatic pressure to force water against a semi-permeable membrane. This semi-permeable membrane has the ability to remove bacteria and different types of microorganisms and bad odor in the water.

Ultra-Filtration is not very different from reverse osmosis, microfiltration or Nano Filtration, except in terms of the size of the molecules it retains. Ultrafiltration system removes colloids, bacteria, pathogens and other molecules that are larger than the size of the pores in the semi-permeable membrane.

Wrapping Up:

Water purifiers from renowned brands use a combination of purification methods to remove different types of contaminants and make water suitable for consumption. However, make sure that you use a water purifier from a renowned brand.