Water Chlorination vs Reverse Osmosis
What is water chlorination, and what is its purpose? Is water chlorination the best solution to get the best water? What is the relationship between this process and reverse osmosis? Which is better for water treatment. Know with Care water the answer.
What is water chlorination?
It is the addition of chlorine to water in certain proportions with the aim of eliminating all viruses and harmful organisms. It is the process in which all pathogenic viruses and harmful microbes are destroyed. In order to carry out this process, water sterilizers are used, the most famous of which is chlorine gas or chlorine gas, as they are very effective in removing almost all bacterial pathogens, and they are excellent in purifying water to make it suitable for drinking and storage.
Permissible percentage of chlorine in drinking water
It has been stated in the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization that there are certain percentages of chlorine concentration in drinking water, and it was stated that this ratio should range from 0.2 to 0.5 mg/liter.
A certain correct amount of chlorine must be used to perform its task of eliminating all viruses and harmful organisms, and if it exceeds the appropriate amount, it is harmful to health and not suitable for drinking.
Reasons for adding chlorine to drinking water
Water often contains harmful microorganisms, and these organisms have been the cause of many serious diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and hepatitis.
Chlorine is added to water to eliminate these organisms, avoid these diseases, and sterilize and disinfect water, and it has other benefits to improve drinking water in terms of smell and taste.
Water chlorination against reverse osmosis
With the ever-increasing population, access to clean water for human use has become a growing concern all over the world. Seawater desalination to produce usable water is essential to meet the demand for clean water in the future. Desalination processes, such as reverse osmosis and multi-stage flash, have been implemented all over the world. Reverse osmosis is the most effective technology, using a semi-permeable membrane to produce clean water under applied pressure. However, membrane biological contamination is the main problem facing these plants, which requires constant cleaning or regular replacement of membranes. Chlorination is the most common disinfection process for pre-treatment of water to reduce biological contamination. Although water chlorination is widely used, it has several drawbacks, such as the formation of disinfection byproducts and ineffectiveness against some types of microbes.
Chlorination and reverse osmosis are complementary processes
The purpose of disinfection in reverse osmosis desalination is to prevent microbial colonization on the membrane surface. The ideal disinfectant should be inexpensive, non-hazardous, but highly toxic to microbes without affecting the productivity of desalination plants. There are many disinfection water treatment methods with chlorine and its derivatives, ozonation, or ultraviolet radiation. Ozone is frequently used as a water disinfectant because it effectively removes microorganisms through oxidizing effects, however, it is an expensive and unstable process and sometimes carcinogenic bromate is produced in treated water as by-products.
Iodine, hydrogen peroxide, and peracetic acid are other oxidizing compounds frequently used in water treatment processes. These are mainly used to disinfect pre-treatment sections of membrane components, such as tubes and folds.
The antimicrobial effect of UV rays is based on the production of hydroxyl, which inhibits the growth of bacteria.
In addition, ultraviolet rays can break down bacteria. However, UV light therapy has a relatively high cost with limited application potential.
Biological contamination of Reverse Osmosis membranes
Membranes contamination, the main obstacle to the effective operation of membrane systems, is the accumulation of substances on the membrane surface or within the membrane pores. Membrane contamination is due to organic contamination as well as direct biological contamination. The first is related to the absorption of dissolved organic matter, due to the precipitation of precipitated salts or through the growth of insignificantly soluble salts. Whereas, biological contamination is due to the deposition and growth of microorganisms that form highly adhesive biofilms.
You can learn more about reverse osmosis systems offered by Care water here.
