Reverse Osmosis Systems

When it comes to your family’s health you want the best. That’s why you’re so finicky about what you put onto the dinner table and into your kid’s stomachs. Water is everywhere in life and in everything you eat or drink. In order to be eating and drinking good clean and nourishing food you need a pure source of water that is clean, tasty and reliable.

Luckily, there’s a solution to the problem. Reverse osmosis filters are one of the most effective methods of purifying water. A reverse osmosis filter can effectively remove all impurities and harmful contaminants from your faucet, giving you the cleanest water possible for your home and family. What’s more reverse osmosis will remove nitrates, chromium and mercury giving you a more refreshing and better tasting glass of water.

At T Smith Plumbing Contractors , we specialize in the service and installation of reverse osmosis filters for your home or office. Once our team of professionals has installed your new filtration system, you can immediately begin enjoying healthier and better tasting water. We’ll see to it that your new system is up and running and functioning great. Plus, we’ll install a large tank to insure that you’re always provided with excellent water.

Get the best water possible, call T Smith Plumbing Contractors today.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification technology that uses asemipermeable membrane. This membrane-technology is not properly afiltration method. In RO, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure, a colligative property, that is driven by chemical potential, a thermodynamic parameter. RO can remove many types of molecules and ionsfrom solutions and is used in both industrial processes and to produce potable water. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other side. To be “selective,” this membrane should not allow large molecules or ions through thepores (holes), but should allow smaller components of the solution (such as the solvent) to pass freely.

In the normal osmosis process, the solvent naturally moves from an area of low solute concentration (High Water Potential), through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration (Low Water Potential). The movement of a pure solvent is driven to reduce the free energy of the system by equalizing solute concentrations on each side of a membrane, generating osmotic pressure. Applying an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of pure solvent, thus, is reverse osmosis. The process is similar to other membrane technology applications. However, there are key differences between reverse osmosis andfiltration. The predominant removal mechanism in membrane filtration is straining, or size exclusion, so the process can theoretically achieve perfect exclusion of particles regardless of operational parameters such as influent pressure and concentration. Moreover, reverse osmosis involves a diffusive mechanism so that separation efficiency is dependent on solute concentration, pressure, and water flux rate.[1] Reverse osmosis is most commonly known for its use in drinkingwater purification from seawater, removing the salt and other effluent materials from the water molecules.

Diffusion is the movement of molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion in which the molecules are water and the concentration gradient occurs across a semipermeable membrane. The semipermeable membrane allows the passage of water, but not ions (e.g., Na+, Ca2+, Cl-) or larger molecules (e.g., glucose, urea, bacteria). Diffusion and osmosis are thermodynamically favorable and will continue until equilibrium is reached. Osmosis can be slowed, stopped, or even reversed if sufficient pressure is applied to the membrane from the ‘concentrated’ side of the membrane.

Reverse osmosis occurs when the water is moved across the membrane against the concentration gradient, from lower concentration to higher concentration. To illustrate, imagine a semipermeable membrane with fresh water on one side and a concentrated aqueous solution on the other side. If normal osmosis takes place, the fresh water will cross the membrane to dilute the concentrated solution. In reverse osmosis, pressure is exerted on the side with the concentrated solution to force the water molecules across the membrane to the fresh water side.

Reverse osmosis is often used in commercial and residential water filtration. It is also one of the methods used to desalinate seawater. Sometimes reverse osmosis is used to purify liquids in which water is an undesirable impurity (e.g., ethanol).