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An Overview of Water Purification Technology

As there are many different methods of water purification, water purification technology is varied. To sort it out we will talk about it at length. One by one we will examine the different technologies and methods behind the many types of water purifiers.

Distilling water is a very old system. The water is brought to a boil and the vapor is collected through condensation in another container. Anything with a higher boiling point than water will also be collected in the second container, and anything with a lower boiling point will remain in the original container. Meaning healthy minerals and nutrients are removed and any chemicals remain. Time has brought us more effective methods of water purification.

A moderately effective water purification technology is the micro-porous membrane. It is basically a sieve that has three parts to it. The first part takes most of the heavier things, the next takes out the fine stuff, and finally the third screen takes out all that is left. The disadvantage of this system is that it does not remove chemicals.

The next on our list of water filtration technology is ultra-filtration. Based upon molecular theory, it uses a fine, sieve-like, chemically constructed membrane. Everything bigger than the membrane is caught and removed, but these methods of water purification also suffer from being unable to remove chemicals.

A technology effective for desalination (and little else) is reverse osmosis. Basically pressurized water is forced through a semi-porous membrane. The disadvantage of reverse osmosis based methods of water purification is the design is incapable of filtering anything lighter than water (chemicals), and everything heavier than water is removed indiscriminately. It also uses up a lot of water and it takes a long time doing it.

A newer purification technology is electrodeionization. It is a good way to remove chemicals from the system. The disadvantage of ion transfer based methods is that it needs water to be pre filtered for it to work right. So an effective electrodeionization filtration system requires at least one more filter to be effective.

If germicidal treatment of water is all you need, the water can be bombarded with ultra violet radiation. A simple water purification technology, water is placed in a tank under several low pressure mercury lamps generating 254 mm of UV light, removing any traces of germs or bacteria.

The most effective methods of water purification are some of the oldest, developed in world war one, they revolve around activated carbon. Water is passed through a membrane composed of extremely porous carbon, blocking many particles and chemicals without removing healthy minerals. The only disadvantage is the activated carbon membrane must be replaced regularly.

This has been a very brief overview of water purification technology. They all have some merits and some disadvantages. Some of the systems may require multiple systems working in tandem for them to work right. More methods of water purification exist, but we’ve covered the ones that actually do anything.

Dominic Anderton is a passionate researcher on the health benefits of purified drinking and bath water. He also researches other issues and topics concerning optimal health and well-being. Visit his site now at http://www.pure-and-safe-water.com/ to get the facts on how to choose the best water purification technology.

An Overview of Water Purification Technology / Author: Dominic Anderton

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