Why do we need reverse osmosis plants?

Long sea voyages require constant replenishment of fresh water. This is especially true for passenger flights, when thousands of people can sit on board a cruise ship. How are similar volumes solved? For this purpose, reverse osmosis plants are used - efficient and simple units that can satisfy any need for fresh water.

Features of reverse osmosis
Sea water has a salinity of between two and almost forty ppm. This makes it completely unsuitable for human consumption. At the same time, entire continents around the world regularly experience difficulties with drinking water: for example, Cape Town (South Africa) is at risk of becoming the first major city left completely without it.

The process of reverse osmosis is the diffusion of water through special membranes, microscopic holes in which do not allow salt and other solid particles. They also purify water from impurities of iron, various bacteria and viruses. This allows to obtain distilled water used for medical procedures that require sterility.

Currently, there are disputes about the feasibility of using such facilities in the domestic environment, when ordinary tap water is directly treated in a residential area. According to some data, the use of such “sterile” water causes harm to the human body due to the leaching of beneficial salts and trace elements. However, it is clear to everyone that it is much more beneficial to use it than water with unknown parameters, and special mineralizing filters are used for its mineralization. It is enough to pass water through them in order to obtain a solution with the specified quantities of useful trace elements.

Desalinators on ships
There are various types of marine desalination plants. Some of them are used to obtain only drinking water, some are used for boiler water, others are of mixed type (for drinking, nutrient and washing water). They can operate autonomously or from external sources of energy, for example, a ship engine.

To get fresh water on small yachts and boats, a compact desalination plant is sufficient, with enough voltage of 12 or 24 V. Large vessels, such as passenger liners or military vessels, need large desalination plants capable of producing up to 30,000 liters of water per day.