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RO - Reverse Osmosis & Nanofiltration
Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration makes use of an extremely small pore sized filter materials called semi
permeable membranes. The pores on these membranes are so small that it will allow the water molecules to
pass through easily but will restrict the passage of larger molecules of salts and organic chemicals to pass
through.
The diagram below (not to scale) will help in understanding the relative pore sizes and the sizes of the
common impurities.
The pore size of RO membrane is 0.0005microns which is smaller than the size of the Sodium Chloride or Sea
SAlt molecule which is 0.0007 micron and will not let it through. Nor will it let through the viruses, germs and
organic molecules which are ver much larger than the RO pore.
So an RO membrane will purif water from almost all chemicals. What can pass through the RO membrane is
water and molecules smaller than the water molecule, like CO2 gas. Smaller molecules than water is
generall not harmful to health. The RO Water obtained from Reverse Osmosis Water Filter which uses a RO
Membrane filter will be almost distilled qualit water and ver pure. Bottled water manufacturers usuall use
Reverse Osmosis Water Filters to purif their water.
The Nanofiltration pore sie at 0.0008 microns, is onl slightl larger than the RO pore (0.0005 microns) and
also onl ver slightl larger than the sie of the common salt (NaCl) molecule. So it allows monovalent
common salt Sodium Chloride to pass through but will not allow divalent Calcium salts like Calcium
Carbonate of dia 0.0009 microns to pass through. Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis RO membranes remove
Mercur, Lead, Heav Metals, Arsenic, all germs and viruses from water and makes Hard Water Soft.
The diagrams below from Koch Membranes helps us to better understand the concept of Nanofiltration and
Reverse Osmosis.
Nanofiltration Membrane allows onl pure water, monovalent salts and lower molecular weight divalent salts
to pass through
RO membrane onl allows pure water to pass through it. Everthing else like monovalent and multivalent
salts, bacteria and viruses, dirt, etc. are completl blocked
Membane Manface
The leading manufacturers of Membranes in the world are CSM Woongjin, FilmTech, Hdranautics, Koch,
Osmonics, Tora, etc. All of them manufacture different tpes of membranes like Microfiltration,
Ultrafiltration, Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis. Most of their membranes are Thin Film Composite
(TFC) Siral Wound tpe.
Nanofilaion
NanoIiltration membrane has a slightly larger pore size than Reverse Osmosis Membran. Thus monovalent
salts like sodium chloride (common table salt) molecules passes through the membrane but large divalent salts
oI Calcium, Magnesium and other metals like iron, heavy metals, etc. are all blocked. This is an ideal solution
where there are problems with hard water and water having excess iron and metal salts including heavy
metals. The advantage oI NanoIiltration is that it requires much lower pressure than RO to drive the water
through the membranes. This means that a NanoIilter membrane plant will consume only about halI the
electriciy oI an RO plant. Also the initial cost oI a NanoIilteration plant will be less than that oI an RO plant
since the pressure in a NanoIiltration plants are about halI or less, than that oI an RO plant.
Hard waters normally do not contain excess monovalent salts like sodium chloride. hence NanoIiltration
plants are the ideal solution Ior obtaining soIt water Ior the whole house. At the bottom oI this page we
describe how to size plants Ior whole house purposes.
Undeink RO Wae Pifie
The picture on the right shows a typical point oI use undersink RO water Iilter puriIier insalled under a kitchen
sink. RO is highly recommended Ior people using well water and especially in areas susceptible to toxic
chemicals like Arsenic, Heavy metals and Nitrates (near Iarms and agricultural areas).
Reverse Osmosis is the opposite oI Osmosis. We know that water Ilows Irom a dilute or pure solution to a
more concentrated solution when separated by a membrane - like the membrane covering an egg just below the
egg shell. We also know that a pressure is built up in the concentrated side and the water column there would
rise and this is called the osmotic pressure. Plants and trees depend on osmotic pressure to drive up water
from the roots to their leaves and fruits. Osmotic pressure is responsible to get the water from the ground, right
up a high coconut tree, to fill its tender coconuts with the tast juice.
Reverse Osmosis uses pressure which is more than the osmotic pressure, to drive pure water from the
concentrated side to the dilute or permeate side of the membrane. A membrane is the semi-permeable barrier
across the concentrated and dilute solutions. In industrial use this semi-permeable membrane is called as just a
membrane, and is made of special snthetic plastics sheets. RO is the process used in desalination, the process
of making drinking water from sea water.
The same technolog is now available for our home use. The advantage of RO or Reverse Osmosis units is
that it will remove not onl all the germs including the smallest viruses, but will also remove harmful
chemicals like Arsenic, heav metals, Nitrates, Salts, etc. In fact bottled water manufacturers use RO to purif
the water before the bottle it.
Reerse Osmosis Diagram
The flow diagram of a tpical undersink RO filter purifier is shown here. It has several filtration stages
including an Activated Carbon filtration stage which are there as pre-treatment before the RO membrane to
protect it. These pre-treatment filters remove suspended particles and the activated carbon filter removes
Chlorine, which can damage the RO membrane.
The disadvantages of RO are that it requires high water pressure and that some water is wasted in the reject
stream. If there is not enough pressure in our pipeline then a small electric motor is required to pump the
water to a high pressure. Secondl, it wastes some water in its reject stream which carries all the concentrated
impurities that was there in the water originall. This means that when it purifies sa 1 liter of water, it drains
awa about half a liter of water in which all the impurities are concentrated. This waste water is known as the
reject. This reject quantit of water goes up as the water becomes saltier or has more TDS. For seawater the
recovered permeate or product water is onl about 30% and the wasted reject water is nearl 70%. Normal
home water supplies will get about 70% product or permeate pure water and the waste reject will be 30%. It
ma be possible to make use of the reject water, like for cleaning or watering plants.

Ultrafiltration purifier
UltraIiltration is useIul because it will Iilter away all micro organisms, including viruses, the smallest oI
microbes. UF does not require as high a pressure as required by RO. Since UF will remove all suspend matter
including all microorganisms and viruses, it is an attractive solution Ior puriIying all the water coming into the
house. Note that UltraIiltration will not remove dissolved substances. Thus it is a good Ior use with public
supply water, well, pond, river and rain harvested waters, when you are sure that the dissolved solids (TDS)
is within the limits and that it contains no toxic impurities. I you are not sure about the dissolved solids in the
water, then it is best to opt Ior an RO unit.
II the water has no problems with dissolved solids, then an UltraIiltration puriIier unit could be the best
solution Ior water puriIication needs. UltraIiltration puriIiers do not require a high pressure like an RO
membrane puriIier and thus requires less energy and is more economical. All bacteria and viruses are blocked
by UltraIiltration puriIiers. UltraIiltration puriIiers combined with an Activated Carbon Iilter and a UV
sterilizer could be the next best solution aIter RO Ior drinking water, especially when dissolved solids are not
a problem.
Siing of NanoFiltration & Reverse Osmosis Units
NanIiltration or RO units are usually classiIied as having a Ilow oI so many Liters Per Day or LPD. To
calculate the amount oI water required per day, you could use an average oI 150 liters required per day per
person. So Ior example, a Iamily oI 6 will need a 6x150900 liters per day.
You would not require RO puriIied water to Ilush toilets and Ior cleaning Iloors, etc., so you should have a
separate tank and separate pipeline Ior the toilet Ilushes and other uses not requiring RO water. The reject
water Irom the RO could be used to Iill this cleaning and Ilushing water tank in areas where water is in short
supply.
The quantity oI reject water Irom a NanoIiltration plant is not as much as the RO plant. The NanoIilteration
reject water is best disposed oII Iar Irom you intake water source, because it will have very high content oI
Hardness.
For cleaning, initially you could use the RO reject water and a Iinal rinse with the RO permeate or pure water.
This is because the reject water oI the RO contains a lot oI salts, and when the water dries, these salts would
leave a whitish colored stain marks on the cleaned surIace. You avoid this by a Iinal Ilush with the permeate
pure water.
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