{"id":3264,"date":"2025-02-17T14:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.eu\/?p=3264"},"modified":"2025-08-19T17:32:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:32:40","slug":"fundamental-principles-of-reverse-osmosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/2025\/02\/17\/fundamental-principles-of-reverse-osmosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse osmosis fundamentals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reverse osmosis (RO) is a widely used water purification technology, capable of effectively filtering a wide range of contaminants through a semi-permeable membrane. This technology ensures that the water consumed is clean, clear and free from harmful substances. Thanks to its efficiency and performance, RO has become a mainstay of modern water treatment solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. What is reverse osmosis?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Reverse osmosis involves forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. This membrane is designed to allow water molecules to pass through while blocking larger molecules and contaminants, including :<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Bacteria and viruses<\/strong> Disease-causing micro-organisms are effectively reduced, minimizing health risks.<\/span><\/li>\n\n
  • Chemical pollutants<\/strong> This includes industrial chemicals, heavy metals, nitrates, fluoride, PFAS, pesticides and pharmaceutical residues that may be present in water.<\/span><\/li>\n\n
  • Salts and minerals<\/strong> Dissolved in water, they contribute to hardness and scale build-up in pipes and household appliances.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    The pores of a quality membrane measure around 0.0001 micron<\/strong>or one millionth of a millimetre (by way of comparison, bacteria measure between 0.2 and 1 micron<\/strong>viruses between 0.02 and 0.4 microns<\/strong>and PFAS around 0.0005 microns<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n

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    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Contaminant<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nApproximate size (microns)<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nOsmosis filtration efficiency<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Sand, rust<\/span><\/td>\n10 - 100 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n100%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Fine sediment<\/span><\/td>\n1 - 10 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n100%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bacteria<\/span><\/td>\n0.2 - 1 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Virus<\/span><\/td>\n0.02 - 0.1 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Pesticides & Herbicides<\/span><\/td>\n0.001 - 0.005 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n97 – 99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Hormones & pharmaceutical residues<\/span><\/td>\n0.0005 - 0.005 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n95 – 99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    PFAS (perfluorinated)<\/span><\/td>\n0.001 - 0.005 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n94 – 99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Dissolved heavy metals<\/span><\/td>\n< 0.001 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n95 – 99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Dissolved salts (Na+, Cl-)<\/span><\/td>\n< 0.001 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n95 – 99%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Nitrates & Nitrites<\/span><\/td>\n< 0.001 \u00b5m<\/span><\/td>\n85 – 95%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

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    2. Why is it called \"reverse osmosis\"?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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    The term \"osmosis\" refers to the natural movement of water molecules from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration, across a semi-permeable membrane. This process aims to balance the concentrations on both sides of the membrane.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Reverse osmosis\" reverses this natural process. By applying external pressure, water is forced from a zone of high solute concentration (contaminated water) to a zone of low concentration (pure water), effectively separating contaminants from the water.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Reverse osmosis has become a mainstay of modern water treatment solutions.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_metasync_otto_title":"","_metasync_otto_description":"","_metasync_otto_keywords":"","_metasync_otto_og_title":"","_metasync_otto_og_description":"","_metasync_otto_twitter_title":"","_metasync_otto_twitter_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_aioseo_title":"","_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-osmoseur"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aquacycle.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}