How Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Works

Hyperfiltration, also known as reverse osmosis water purification, is the best filtration available today. This method is used by most of the famous, premium bottled water companies to filter their water. It is extremely effective in eliminating or substantially reducing the contaminates in drinking water. This article is going to take a look at how reverse osmosis water purification works and what benefits it has.

Benefits And Function Of Reverse Osmosis Water Purification

Reverse osmosis water purification removes the particles in drinking water all the way down to individual ions. The pores in a reverse osmosis membrane are only around .00005 microns in size with most common bacteria being between two tenths and one full micron in size. A reverse osmosis water purifications system is smaller than even viruses with those being .02 to .4 microns in size.

There are two types common to reverse osmosis water purification systems. The first is called Thin Film Composite. Thin Film Composite, or TFC for short, membranes have a much higher rejection rate than their counterpart. This means that TFC systems will filter out many more contaminants. They are unfortunately much more susceptible to degradation by chlorine and will have a much shorter shelf life than their counterparts.

The other main kind of filtration system is Cellulose Triacetate, otherwise known as CTA. CTA units will not filter as much as the TFC system, but are much more resistant to chlorine and will last significantly longer.

Both types use an array of granular activated carbon prefilters, the reverse osmosis water purification membrane, a storage tank, and usually a faucet to deliver the purified water. All of these different factors can very and will affect your water quality.

How It Works

The system behind reverse osmosis water purification is fairly simple, but is not apparent right away. The system uses a semi-permeable membrane that allows water to pass through and rejects contaminants that are too large to move through the tiny pores. A quality reverse osmosis system will use a process named crossflow to let the membrane continue clean itself. As some fluid passes through, the rest is swept away from the membrane and down the drain. This system requires pressure to push the water through the membrane. Usually the pressure from a standard residential water system is sufficient.

As you can see there are some simple concepts that make a reverse osmosis water purification unit function. Understanding what those are and how the different components play into making the system work can help you to make the right purchasing decision.