Ro 101 – Water Purification Technology Guide

By Author: Anuj Singh
Total Articles: 32
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RO systems have become necessary for all Indian households. However, very few people know this technology well enough to buy it confidently. So, let’s understand what this system actually does and how it is used for water purification.

What is RO?
RO means Reverse Osmosis. Osmosis was a scientific process that was first observed in 1748. However, scientists applied this process for desalination successfully by mid-1950s. Simply put, this removes salts from water. How is it done? You need to understand the natural process of osmosis for that. If two liquids with differing concentrations of salt are divided by a semi-permeable membrane, these liquids will attain the same concentration by natural movement of salt through the membrane. This process is reversed by excessive external pressure. In Reverse Osmosis, all salt from a liquid moves through the semi-permeable membrane against the natural flow. As a result, all the salt is on one side of membrane and pure water is left behind on the other side of membrane.

Why RO system?
RO isn’t a filtering and purification technique in traditional ...
... sense. It is a thermodynamic process. But it is chosen for water purification as it offers 90 to 99% accurate results. So, 99% of salt in your hard water can be effectively removed by this process. Today, it can be done at efficient enough speeds to allow us to use this process commercially.

What result can be expected?
You can expect to get rid of 99% of inorganic particles from water. So, if your water has lead, mercury, calcium, iron, magnesium etc, it can be removed to significant accuracy with this process. While this doesn’t offer complete protection, there are other post-treatment filters that are added to RO water purifiers that remove the remaining 1% of inorganic particles effectively enough to offer you 100% pure water.

What result can’t be expected?
Though, it works so well, it is not a magic. There are other contaminants in the water. This technology is not effective against them. It has no effect against bacteria, viruses, chemicals and dust particles. So, if you need to desalinate your water, it is effective. But, if you have chemicals in the local water, you need a well rounded purifier. However, you must understand that there is no better technology available today for hard water. If you have hard water in your region, you must buy the purifier that includes RO technology. So, make an informed decision about your requirements rather than picking up just any low-priced purifier for the sake of it.

Anuj Singh works as a quality analyst at Livpure RO Water Purifier. Anuj is technology enthusiast and shares information on ro system. He explains the importance of ro filtering & purification in water purifiers.