Clean water is a necessity for all of us. Despite being a necessity, some 1.1 million people are estimated to fall ill each year from drinking water that has not been properly treated. Many people depend on tap water for their livelihood. However, due to water pollution and soil contamination, tap water can in some cases carry harmful pollutants such as bacteria and viruses, as well as harmful metal components. As a result, household water treatment has been changed from being optional to being required. Household water treatment can provide the perfect solution for household water consumption, which is beneficial to improve the health level of family members. Household water treatment is a relatively convenient way to obtain clean water sources. We are a professional manufacturer of UV water treatment equipment. We believe that UV water treatment can provide unlimited clean water for household use and ensure water quality safety. In this Blog, we will briefly introduce some common water treatment methods. Through comparison, we can have a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
1. Granular Activated Carbon
In a granular activated carbon system, the incoming water will be filtered by flowing through a loose collection of activated carbons. Since the surface area of carbon increases, it will therefore have a high porosity. As a result, pollutants in the water can be adsorbed by the activated carbon which acts as a block filter.
The problems with granular activated carbon for water treatment also stem from its physical properties. The looseness of activated carbon leads to the formation of channels during the filtration process. Most of the water will choose to pass through these channels for the less resistance. This results in a reduced contact time between the water and the active carbon. Such reduction leads to the incompleteness of the filtering. Therefore, water treatment is not activated carbon’s strength. Compared with water treatment, activated carbon can be better used for odor filtering.
2. Reverse Osmosis
A reverse osmosis (RO) system is known for its thoroughness of their filtration. In a typical RO system, particles as small as 5 microns and contaminants present in the water can be effectively filtered in the preprocessing stage. After preprocessing, the water will then enter a high-pressure chamber. In the high-pressure chamber, the water will be filtered again through a semi-permeable membrane. More than 95% of contaminants in the water, including cysts and bacteria, can be filtered.
The advantage of RO reverse osmosis system is its thoroughness. However, there are still many drawbacks in this approach. Firstly, it has a low water reuse rate. The RO membranes also need to be cleaned frequently. Secondly, the economic cost in this treatment will be high. In addition, it cannot filter certain microorganisms as effectively as ultraviolet light does.
3. Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet is a known disinfectant. Light from the sun contains the same short-wave ultraviolet rays as that in an UV water treatment system. The ultraviolet frequency used to kill harmful microorganisms is 254 nanometers. It is known as the germicidal spectrum or germicidal frequency. When used in water treatment, UV can mutate and degrade a variety of bacteria, viruses and microorganisms present in water. It can be applied for the treatment for some tough contamination problems such as Legionella.
One of the main household applications of UV sterilization is the treatment of tap water. The shell of an UV sterilizer used for household water treatment is usually a stainless steel tube. Its interior is composed of a number of UV lamps. These UV lamps are often protected by quartz sleeves with the aims for easy replacement and cleaning. UV sterilizers has its inlet and outlet pipes to allow water to flow in and out. Inside an UV sterilizer, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms floating freely in the water will be exposed to lethal doses of UV radiation when water flowing through the device. As a result, microbes will be killed because their DNA or RNA has been damaged and they are unable to reproduce any more. The water treated by UV sterilizers can be effectively sterilized to ensure the safety of drinking water.
Another major use of UV Sterilizers for home is the disinfection for aquariums. With the assistance of an UV sterilizer, the water used in the aquarium can be treated before it comes into contact with the fish. Most of the bacteria, viruses, parasites and other harmful microorganisms present in the water will be killed by the treatment. This treatment can greatly reduce the likelihood of water-borne diseases. In addition, the presence of microalgae in the water can also be killed by the UV radiation. It is important to note that changing water will be very important when using UV sterilizers to remove microalgae from water. That is because even though microalgae has be killed, but their bodies still in the water. Through the change of the water, they can be removed thoroughly.
UV sterilizers for home use are relatively smaller compared with the treatment equipment used for wastewater treatment. Besides home use, they are also applicable in restaurants and other food preparing industries.
4. Distillation
The use of granular activated carbon and RO are both physical processing methods. During the treatment process, the water flow can be treated by natural pressure. UV water treatment is a chemical solution. There is still another physical process used for water treatment. It is distillation. Distillation is a process by which some components in the water can be separated by the differences in their volatility.
Distillation can be used for water treatment. However, it also has several disadvantages. After water has been boiled, water vapor and some VOCs will escape, leaving behind some impurities. For these VOCs and other organic compounds, to achieve a thorough treatment effect, carbon filters will be required. The disadvantage of water treatment through distillation is that the process cannot effectively remove the organic compounds produced. In addition, the distillation process is also economically expensive. The high power consumption and time consumption of the treatment process made it less popular than many other solutions.
5. Ionizers
An ionizer is a device that can be used to raise the pH of water to be treated by electrolysis. During the treatment process, when water flows through the charged plates, it will be separated to be acidic and alkaline streams. Alkaline water with a higher pH value can be produced by this treatment. The proven benefits of alkaline water include its rich REDOX potential levels that can turn the liquid into an antioxidant. In addition, alkaline water has better hydration effect.
One drawback of ionizers is that they can only raise the pH value of the water. It lacks the pre-filtration treatment that can reduce the contaminant level. Therefore, the problem comes together with this solution is that the treated water can still be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, hormones, lead, pesticides, etc. Moreover, compared with other treatment methods, because of the electrolysis process, the alkaline water produced by ionizers will no longer contain any beneficial minerals.
Through comparison, it can be concluded that each of the above treatment methods has its own advantages and drawbacks. Some of them are physical and some are chemical. From the comparison, the advantages of UV treatment is the most prominent. In water treatment field, UV is a good solution for both the sterilization and water reuse.
To sum up, the advantages of UV water treatment for household use are as follows:
1. UV water treatment is a physical treatment method that does not require the use and treatment of any hazardous chemicals.
2. UV can achieve an instant killing of harmful microorganisms in water with its high processing efficiency.
3. UV water treatment is safer and more energy efficient than the use of hazardous chemicals in chemical treatment process and the high power consumption in distillation process.
4. UV water treatment will not cause any change in the taste, smell and pH value of the treated water.
5. Compared with other treatment methods, UV water treatment has lower capital investment. It is also relatively simple in its daily operation and maintenance.
For more introduction of the advantages of UV water treatment, please go to our blog: UV Domestic Wastewater Treatment.
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