Veolia Water Technologies Ireland
Dublin Road
Celbridge
Co. Kildare
Tel: + 353 1 630 3333
Fax: + 353 1 630 3344
E-mail:
marketing.ireland@veolia.com
Reverse osmosis (RO), with its exceptional purifying efficiency, is a very cost-effective technology for the removal of the majority of impurities. RO membranes are typically thin film polyamide and are stable over a wide pH range.
RO membranes are used to remove:
- Water contaminants that are less than 1 nm diameter
- Typically over 90% of ionic contamination, most organic contamination
- Nearly all particulate contamination
How RO Works TO Remove Contaminants
During reverse osmosis, feedwater is pumped past the input side of a RO membrane under pressure (typically 4-15 bar, 60-220 psi) in cross-flow fashion. Typically 15-30% of feedwater passes through the membrane as permeate and the rest exits the membrane as a concentrate that contains most of the salts, organics, and essentially all particulates.
Advantages:
- Effective removal of contaminants such as colloids, pyrogens etc
- Minimal maintenance and easy to monitor
Restrictions:
- Gases are not removed
- Pre-treatment is required to avoid contaminants damaging membrane
