Reverse
Osmosis
Since the early
1970s, reverse osmosis has been used in
desalination, or the removal of salt from
seawater to produce fresh water.
Osmosis is the movement of
a solvent through a semi permeable membrane into
a solution of higher solute concentration that
tends to equalize the concentrations of solute
on the two sides of the membranes. Reverse
osmosis is the movement of fresh water through a
semi permeable membrane when pressure is applied
to a solution on one side of it. A solvent is
forced from an area of high solute concentration
to an area of low solute concentration by
applying an amount of pressure that is greater
than the natural osmotic pressure. The solute is
trapped on one side and the solvent on the
other, as the semi permeable membrane allows the
passage of solvent, but not solute.
The semi permeable membrane has no pores; the
separation of solute and solvent occurs in a
dense, microscopically thin layer of polymer.
Generally, the membrane is designed to only let
water molecules pass through. The water goes
into solution in the polymer and crosses the
membrane by diffusion. A high pressure must be
exerted on the high concentration side of the
membrane, usually 5 MPa-20 MPa (50 bar-200 bar).
Since the early 1970s, reverse osmosis has been
used in desalination, or the removal of salt
from seawater to produce fresh water.
More about osmosis:
Reverse Osmosis Water
Filtering Systems
Reverse Osmosis in the
Food Industry
What is Reverse Osmosis
Reverse Osmosis is a highly effective method of
filtering water, which is also referred to as
hyper filtration.
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