Journal of Membrane Science & Technology

An Overview of Reverse Osmosis Membrane and Its Benefits

Vatanpour Koyuncu^* Department of Membrane Technologies, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
^*Correspondence: Vatanpour Koyuncu, Department of Membrane Technologies, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, Email:

Received: 02-Sep-2022, Manuscript No. JMST-22-18414; Editor assigned: 06-Sep-2022, Pre QC No. JMST-22-18414 (PQ); Reviewed: 20-Sep-2022, QC No. JMST-22-18414; Revised: 27-Sep-2022, Manuscript No. JMST-22-18414 (R); Published: 07-Oct-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2155-9589.22.12.300

Description

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a water filtration technique that uses a semipermeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules, and large molecules from groundwater. In reverse osmosis, an osmotic pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure, a solute concentration property generated by synthetic potential differences in the solutes, which is a temperature dependent parameter. Reverse Osmosis (RO) can remove a wide range of dissolved and suspended chemical substance, as well as organisms (mainly bacteria), from water and it is used in both industrial processes and groundwater production.

As a result, the solute is maintained on the high pressure of the membrane while a pure solvent passes to the other side and this membrane should not allow large molecules or ions to move through the porous structure (holes), but it should allow smaller components of the solution to pass freely (such as solvent molecules, water, Hydrogen and oxygen). The solvent process that moves through a membrane from a lower concentration of solute (high water potential) area to a high solute concentration area in the regular emulsification process (low water potential). Reverse osmosis is the technique of applying an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of organic solvent. The procedure is similar to that used for other membrane technological applications.

Reverse osmosis differentiates from membrane separation in that fluid flow is accomplished through osmotic pressure across a membrane. Filtration, or physical degradation, is the most common separation mechanism in membrane filtration, where the pores are 0.01 micrometer’s or larger, so the process can potentially important in this area overall effectiveness depending of specifications such as solution pressure and concentration. Alternatively, reverse osmosis requires solvent diffusion across a non-porous membrane or nano-filtration membrane with 0.001 micrometer porous structure. The most common removal technique is caused by variations in solubility or permeability, and the procedures are affected by pressure, solute concentration, and other factors. Reverse osmosis is mainly known for its application in purifying drinking water from seawater by trying to remove salt and other effluent materials from the water molecules.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is typically consists of four stages: A sediment filter, pre-carbon prevent, Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane, and post-carbon filter. The sediment filter removes the largest molecules, such as dirt, sand, and rust, to prevent subsequent filters that become clogged. The activated carbon in the pre-carbon filter tends to attract and securities of positively charged ions to prevent chemical compounds such as chlorine and chloramines from trying to pass through to the third filter. After that, the reverse osmosis membrane removes molecules that are heavier than water, such as sodium, high levels of lead, inorganic ions, and fluoride. Finally, the water is refined by the post-carbon filter.

Purification of drinking water

Domestic drinking water purification systems, including a reverse osmosis procedure, are widely used around the world to improve water for drinking and food.

Such systems typically include the following steps:

• Sediment filter to collect molecules such as rust and calcium carbonate

• A second sediment filter with smaller pores is optional.

• An activated carbon filters to obtain organic chemicals and sodium, which protect and damage certain thin-film composite membranes.

Benefits of reverse osmosis

Some of the benefits of reverse osmosis are described below.

• This method can effectively remove dissolved and suspended chemical particles as well as biological organizations (such as bacteria) from water.

• This technique is widely used in the treatment of sewage water or contaminants.

• It is used to purify water in order to prevent transmission of infection.

• It assists in the seawater desalination process.

• It's effective in the healthcare field.

Disadvantages of reverse osmosis

The disadvantages of reverse osmosis systems consist of the following:

• The pH tolerance of cellulose acetate membranes is limited. They degrade at temperatures above 35^oC. They are susceptible to bacterial infection. They essentially hydrolyze.

• Polyamide membranes are sensitive to temperature increases above 35^oC. They are delicate to free chlorine.

• Chlorine is toxic to thin-film composite materials. To operate properly, high flux polysulfones require softening or deionization of the feed water.