Reverse Osmosis

Louis Lim
Mervyn Wong
Tham Jia Ching
Alric Wong
 How a country without water can provide
water supply
• Collecting water from the sea(Reverse
Osmosis)
 Reverse osmosis (RO) is a 
water purification technology that uses
a semipermeable membrane to remove 
ions, moleculesand larger particles from
drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an
applied pressure is used to overcome 
osmotic pressure, a colligative property,
that is driven by chemical potential
 differences of the solvent, a 
thermodynamic parameter. 
  Reverse osmosis can remove many types of
dissolved and suspended species from water,
including bacteria, and is used in both industrial
processes and the production of potable water.
The result is that the solute is retained on the
pressurized side of the membrane and the pure 
solvent is allowed to pass to the other side. To
be "selective", this membrane should not allow
large molecules or ions through the pores
 (holes), but should allow smaller components
of the solution (such as solvent molecules) to
pass freely.[1]
 In the normal osmosis process, the solvent
naturally moves from an area of low solute
concentration (high water potential), through a
membrane, to an area of high solute
concentration (low water potential). The driving
force for the movement of the solvent is the
reduction in the free energy of the system when
the difference in solvent concentration on either
side of a membrane is reduced, generating
osmotic pressure due to the solvent moving into
the more concentrated solution. Applying an
external pressure to reverse the natural flow of
pure solvent, thus, is reverse osmosis.
Singapore
 Around the world, household drinking water 
purification systems, including a reverse osmosis step,
are commonly used for improving water for drinking
and cooking
•Such systems typically include a number of steps:
•a sediment filter to trap particles, including rust and calcium carbonate
•optionally, a second sediment filter with smaller pores
•an activated carbon filter to trap organic chemicals and chlorine, which
will attack and degrade thin film composite membrane reverse osmosis
membranes
•a reverse osmosis filter, which is a thin film composite membrane
•optionally, a second carbon filter to capture those chemicals not
removed by the reverse osmosis membrane
•optionally an ultraviolet lamp for sterilizing any microbes that may
escape filtering by the reverse osmosis membrane
Portable reverse osmosis water processors are sold for
personal water purification in various locations. To work
effectively, the water feeding to these units should be
under some pressure (280 kPa (40 psi) or greater is the
norm).[8] Portable reverse osmosis water processors can
be used by people who live in rural areas without clean
water, far away from the city's water pipes. Rural
people filter river or ocean water themselves, as the
device is easy to use (saline water may need special
membranes). Some travelers on long boating, fishing,
or island camping trips, or in countries where the local
water supply is polluted or substandard, use reverse
osmosis water processors coupled with one or more
ultraviolet sterilizers.
• We can collect runoff rain water and store it
in a below-grade storage area by collecting the
water on the ground. Take note of where
the rain water falls off of your roof and mark it
with landscaping markers.
• Every year, our home collects over 15,000
gallons of rainwater and continually stores
over 5,000 gallons of water to grow food.
Besides being free, rainwater is also the best
water for growing plants. We have even
learned the secret to harvest and store dew
and frost water, literally water from thin air!
Below you will find an instructional video and
more detailed info on how we do it.