Reverse–Osmosis System:

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a separation technique that is suitable for a wide range of applications, especially when salt or dissolved solids need to be removed from a solution. Accordingly, RO can be used for seawater and brackish water desalination, to produce water for both industrial application, and drinking purpose.

Reverse Osmosis is capable of removing up to 99%+ of the dissolved salts (ions), particles, colloids, organics, bacteria and pyrogens from the feed water . Reverse osmosis is the finest level of filtration available. An RO membrane rejects contaminants based on their size and charge. Any contaminant that has a molecular weight greater than 100 is likely rejected by a properly running RO system. Likewise, the greater the ionic charge of the contaminant, the more likely it will be unable to pass through the RO membrane. Water molecules, on the other hand, pass freely through the membrane creating a purified product stream.

The membranes used for the Reverse Osmosis systems have a dense polymer barrier layer in which separation takes place. Since Reverse Osmosis does not occur naturally, it must be processed by applying high pressure in order to force the water containing high solids to pass through the membrane, with pressure from 8 – 14 bar for fresh water and 40 – 70 bar for Sea Water.