Reverse Osmosis is a process that eradicates a majority of
contaminants from water that too by pushing the water under pressure along a
semi-permeable membrane.
Reverse Osmosis, commonly termed as RO antiscalant,
is a process where de-mineralizing or de-ionizing of water is done by pushing
it under pressure through a semi-permeable Reverse Osmosis Membrane.
Osmosis
You need to know the naturally occurring process of Osmosis
so that you can understand the purpose and process of Reverse Osmosis.
In nature, osmosis is one of the most important processes and
a naturally occurring phenomenon. In this process, a weaker saline solution
moves to a strong saline solution. Few examples of osmosis are when the
soil-plant roots absorb water and our kidneys absorbing water from our blood.
A less concentrated solution always tends to migrate to a
solution that has a higher concentration. For example, when a water container
having a low salt concentration and another water container with a high salt
concentration are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, then the water with
having lower salt concentration will migrate towards the water container with
the higher salt concentration.
A semi-permeable membrane is a membrane that will not allow
every molecule to pass through but instead will allow only selected molecules
to pass through. RO permeate flush is a simple example. Only
air molecules can pass through it. It does not allow the passing of pests or
anything larger in size compared to the holes present in the screen door.
Reverse Osmosis is a process that is reverse of Osmosis. The process of osmosis occurs naturally without any expenditure of energy. If you want to reverse the process of osmosis then you need to provide energy to the more saline solution.
Ensuring that there is only passing of water molecules
without bacteria and dissolved salts, a reverse osmosis membrane is a
semi-permeable membrane. So through the reverse osmosis membrane, you have to
push the water by applying pressure that will be higher than the naturally
occurring osmotic pressure so that desalination of water in the process can be
done. RO antiscalant will allow pure water through along with
holding back a majority of contaminants.
