If you are worried about water contamination or destroyed home appliances due to water hardness? No problem just digs into this article and you will find in-depth details and understanding about the advanced Reverse Osmosis technology, its applications, and how it differentiates from the water softener.
For a better perceptive, let’s first talk about the natural process of osmosis. It is the movement of molecules from a lower concentration to a higher concentrated solution through a semi-permeable membrane to achieve equilibrium on both sides. As this is a natural phenomenon, so it does not require applying any sort of energy. For example; absorption of water by plant roots from soil and absorption of water by our kidneys from blood.
What does a semi-permeable membrane do?
It is a membrane that has small pores that allow the water molecules to pass through it but at the same time blocks contaminants. As this membrane selectively transmits water such as Copper Ferrocyanide allows small molecules of water to flow through it but not the large molecules of sugar.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a method of Osmosis in reverse. So, it requires energy to be applied to a more concentrated solution to pass through the RO membrane. In this reverse process, the RO membrane is used to eliminate the majority of contaminants from unfiltered or concentrated water.
It is done by forcing water under pressure via a semi-permeable RO membrane that let the passage of water but blocks the majority of contaminants such as dissolved salts, organic and inorganic impurities, and bacteria from penetrating to the less concentrated side.
Working Of A Reverse Osmosis System
A reverse osmosis system includes multiple-layer filtrations that can be 4, 5, or 6 layers. The heart of this system is the RO membrane but it also includes a sediment filter and a carbon filter that normally comes in prefiltration stages. Each of these filter cartridges effectively removes different contaminants when water passes after prefiltration to the RO membrane. After that, the water goes from the polishing stage before exiting through the faucet.
Sediment Filter
Removes dust particlesand debris.
Carbon Filter
Removes the contaminants like chlorine that give unpleasant taste and odour to the water.
RO Membrane
This semi-permeable membraneimpressively does the high reduction of the remaining impurities up to 99 %.
On the other hand, a water softener is an ion exchange process in which the hardness-causing elements such as calcium and magnesium will be removed from the water. Hard water is among the devastating problems of modern homes. Approximately 85% of USA citizens have to rely on hard water. It causes clogging in your pipes and reduces water pressure. Moreover, it also damages and dries your skins and hairs.
Water softener solves these issues and saves your home appliances including dishwashers, washing machines and coffee makers, etc. So, buying a water softener is a good option to save money, time, and energy.
How Water Softener Does Perform
A water softener is a conjunction of 3 components that are mineral tank, control valve, and brine tank. When Water flows in the mineral tank, it seeps through a liar of spherical resin beads. Where calcium and magnesium ions settle down and let the soft water come out
In this process, the control valve tracks the amount of water entering the tank to retain the efficiency of resin beads. The brine tank contains a highly concentrated salt solution that helps in the regeneration of resin bead’s positive ions in case of low-efficiency alerts from the control valve.
Reverse Osmosis System Vs Water Softener
Where the reverse osmosis system fulfills your need for harmful contaminant reduction and adds slight softness to water, the water softener will only reduce hardness while the impurities remain in the water. It purely depends on your needs.
Reverse osmosis is an environment-friendly filtration process because it does not include the use of chemicals. Whereas, the water softener uses sodium ions to replace calcium and magnesium ions that cause hardness in water. Hard water causes your skin to dry, your laundry to fade, and pipe blockage. The water softener benefits you with natural great-tasting water, spotless dishes and laundry, long-lasting home appliances, and soft hair and skin.
If you want remarkable, tasteful, and ultra-pure water for drinking, then you must select the ideal combination of both the reverse osmosis system and water softener. Using together will result in the extended lifespan of the RO system as the removal of calcium and magnesium by a water softener will reduce pressure on the reverse osmosis system.
Further, you can also save your money by not spending on bottled water. In this way, you reduce the use of plastic bottles and that is a great contribution to eliminating environmental pollution.
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