Reverse osmosis membranes act as very effective filters.

Therefore any suspended

solids, colloids or heavy metals entrained within the water run the risk of fouling the
membrane surface. An effective pre-treatment system to remove these impurities
before the water gets to the membranes is essential. The pre-treatment system will
be designed to take into account the feed water and water quality needs.
This level of filtration removes course particles in the 20-25 micron range. It is
suitable for a variety of intake waters. These filters use multi-layers of different
media including various coarseness of sands, pumice, anthrice or garnet as filters.
Microfiltration is designed to remove particles in the 0.1 - 1 micron range. The
microfiltration process removes contaminants through a micro porous membrane.
These membranes affectively remove pathogens and large bacteria.
Ultra filtration is another membrane filtration process not fundamentally different
from microfiltration except in terms of the size of molecules it retains. The pores of
ultra filtration membranes can remove particles of 0.001 - 0.01microns from fluids.
This removes most viruses, bacteria, colloids and silts (SDI) from the intake water.

Desalination is the removal of dissolved salts from a solution. This can be achieved
in a number of ways, with the most common forms falling into three main
categories - membrane, chemical or thermal processes.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a process that uses a pump and a semi-permeable
membrane to cause the separation of dissolved salts from a liquid. The pump
provides the driving force to the membrane that is greater than the osmotic
pressure of the liquid. The semi-permeable membrane allows water and some ions
to pass, but retains most of the dissolved salts. The reverse osmosis membrane also
removes more than 98% of residual biological and colloidal matter from the feed
water, resulting in a highly purified product stream.
Osmosis is the natural process which occurs when water spontaneously flows from a
purer solution, through a semi-permeable membrane into a more concentrated
solution. Osmotic pressure is the pressure associated with osmosis.
Reverse Osmosis is used for desalting sea water (SWRO) and brackish water
(BWRO).
High recovery designs allow for 90% or more of the intake water to be utilized,
minimizing disposal of the RO concentrate. To achieve high water recovery pretreatment is designed to enhance membrane recovery, supported by two-pass RO
process. Feed water temperature also effect the efficiency of membranes.

Reverse osmosis permeate can be corrosive, so Osmoflo has a number of

technologies to improve its characteristics such as calcite filters to improve
alkalinity and pH correction using degassing towers.
Osmoflo also design, build and operate demineralization plants for boiler feed for
industry and power generation using ion exchange resin systems and electrodeionization processes.
Electro-deionization of EDI, uses semi permeable membranes and Direct Current to
purify water. The positively charged ions in the solution are drawn through the
membranes towards the negative electric charge, and vice versa, leaving behind a
purified water system.
One application for EDI is 'polishing' treated water to produce ultra high purity
water, suitable for use in the semi-conductor industry.
Chemical processes such as ion exchange, where the water passes through high
pressure vessels which use resins to absorb the dissolved salts, leaving behind
purified water.
Ion exchange is used to treat relatively clean brackish water to produce high purity
water for applications such as boiler feed in power stations, required to maintain
heat transfer efficiency.
After water has gone through the RO process, it is generally free of bacteria and
other contaminants. If the water is for potable use it is generally stored in tanks
before being used, making it susceptible to contamination. Chlorine Dosing and
Ultra Violet sterilization provide a reliable method to keep stored drinking water
safe.