A Guide to Methods of Water Purification Technology
Water purification technology has come a long way in recent years. Consumers are become more aware of the cover up by governments of the contamination that lies within public water systems. To put it plainly, people are sick (literally) and tired of drinking water that is plied with pollutants and harmful cancer causing chemicals. The power of the internet has allowed free speech and thankfully more and more people are educating themselves about the various methods of water purification.
Water purification is when contaminants are removed from water before consumption. The best water purification methods will remove harmful substances while retaining essential minerals. While water purification can be used for a variety of purposes such as medical, chemical and industrial uses, this article focuses on purifying water for human consumption.
There are several methods of water purification. The main ones are:
Distillation
Ion exchange
Reverse osmosis
Microporous filtration
Ultra-filtration
Photo-oxidation
Distillation
This process uses the condensed vapor from heated water. The benefit of distillation is that it is cheap. The disadvantage is that is requires a lot of electricity and can not produce purified water on demand.
Ion exchange
Ion exchange is a very effective water filtration method. It is a complicated yet effective process, and is considered much more powerful than reverse osmosis which is what is used in most home water filtration systems. Water purifiers that use ion exchange as part of their water filtration process are considered of top quality.
Reverse osmosis
Many home water filter systems use reverse osmosis (RO). Reverse osmosis filters water through a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane filters out contaminants. While RO can be effective, unfortunately the filters are expensive and a lot of water can go to waste.
Microporous filtration
These systems use a barrier to stop particles and have been known to get a 0.1 micron rating. They can also use an ultra- micro filter (fitted to the dispenser) which have a rating of 0.05 micron. Microporous filtration is considered one of the best forms of water filtration.
Ultra-filtration
Similar to reverse osmosis except the filter pores are larger (0.001 to 0.02 micron).
Photo-oxidation
Photo-oxidation makes use of ultra-violet radiation to kill bacteria and micro-organisms.
The above water filtration methods all work, but some work better than others. Not all of the above methods are found in home water filtration systems and some, such as photo-oxidation can be expensive and only used in industrial applications.
When choosing a water purification
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