Why An RO Plant In Kolkata Needs Pre-Treatment

Many owners of an RO plant in Kolkata have the notion that maintaining the plant regularly would suffice to ensure the smooth functioning of the plant. But according to manufacturers of RO plants that is not quite the case. According to their recommendations, a pretreatment mechanism is essential to see to it that the RO plant functions optimally. In case o0f modern industrialized cities like Calcutta the water is often polluted heavily and needs to be tended to beforehand. This pretreatment reduces the load on the RO membrane which is the most vulnerable and valuable membrane in the whole RO mechanism.

If you do not opt for pretreatment, you may suffer from problems like:

·        Fouling- The water coming into an RO water purification system is usually heavily contaminated of which a large portion of the contaminants happen to be microscopic. Despite their minuscule size when they are collected in large numbers these contaminants can potentially block the membrane of the RO system. Fouling refers to this accumulation of microscopic contaminants on the membrane. Fouling results in the lowering of the permeate flow and results in a drop of pressure. The end result is the membranes decreased life and increased costs of operation. It should, however, be kept in mind that sooner or later fouling is going to occur. Pretreatment slows down this process to a great extent. The feedwater is made to pass through a filtration method which minimizes the water contaminants. Typically, such filters are the MF or microfiltration filter or an MMF or multimode filter. If you are in doubt about whether you need a filtration system like the ones mentioned above, you need to check the source water.

·         Scaling- Accumulated water gives rise to one or other form of scaling. The mode of formation of scaling is the due to increased inorganic matter concentration in the water, these matters start to precipitate on the RO membrane. Scaling decreases the permeate flow, lowers the salt rejection and results in a drop of pressure. This affects the quality of water provided by the RO system.

·         Mechanical errors- Mechanical errors caused by plumbing like back-pressure or hard starting the feedwater can damage the membrane of the RO water purification system. However the former can be rectified to some extent by installing pressure relief valve variable frequency motors and check valves.

·         Chemical effects- Thin membranes have become the norm in most RO systems installed these days. They help to better the permeate flow. They are however not without their share of downsides. The thin membranes are far more vulnerable damage from chemicals like chlorine. These types of chemicals can damage the membrane beyond repair by burning holes in it.

All these effects are the result of the absence of pretreatment. Other effects include:

·      Shortened life of the membrane

·      Increased costs of operation

·     The quality of the output water is poor