Reverse Osmosis Systems Maryland | RO Removes Salt Materials From Water

Reverse Osmosis

ABRO

Atlantic Blue Drinking Water System with Kwik-Change cartridges.4-stage reverse osmosis No filter housings needed- internal valves shut off flow when cartridges are removed. A simple 1/4 turn removes cartridges- no tools needed.

TFCRO

Microline Reverse Osmosis 4 stage system. Slim line filter housings for space saving- available with or without membrane monitor.

GENRO

Generic Reverse Osmosis- 4 stage system. Standard filter housings and horizontal membrane

Atlantic Blue installs reverse osmosis systems and other water filtration systems throughout Central Maryland and Southern PA.

Understanding Home Reverse Osmosis Systems

Reverse Osmosis Systems (RO): Water pressure is used to force water molecules through a very fine membrane leaving the contaminants behind. Purified water is collected from the "clean" or “permeate” side of the membrane, and water containing the concentrated contaminants is flushed down the drain from the "contaminated" or “concentrate” side. The average RO system is a unit consisting of a sediment/chlorine pre filter, the reverse-osmosis membrane, a storage tank, and an activated-carbon post filter.

Reverse osmosis removes salt and most other inorganic material present in the water, and for that reason, RO lends itself to use in places where the drinking water is brackish (salty), contains nitrates or other dissolved minerals which are difficult to remove by other methods.

Using a quality carbon filter to remove any organic materials and chemicals that get through the sediment pre-filter, the purity of the treated water approaches that produced by distillation. Microscopic parasites (including viruses) are usually removed by RO units, but any defect or micro-tear in the membrane will allow these organisms to pass into the ‘clean” water. This is why RO systems are not rated to remove microorganisms except when an Ultraviolet Light filter is incorporated into the system.

Though slower than a water filter, RO systems can typically purify more water per day than distillers. Also, they do not use electricity, but RO systems do waste water. On average 3 gallons of concentrate wastewater are flushed down the drain for each gallon of filtered water produced.

Two common types of household RO membranes are the Thin Film Composite (TFC or TFM) membrane and the Cellulose Triacetate (CTA) membrane. The main differences between the two types are filtration ability and chlorine tolerance. The CTA membrane is chlorine tolerant, but is more susceptible to fouling from bacteria, and it only rejects 93% of standard contaminants. The TFC/TFM membranes reject 98% of standard contaminants on average, are less susceptible to organic fouling, but it can only treat chlorine free water. Carbon pre-treatment must be used with a TFC/TFM membrane when purifying chlorinated municipal water supplies.