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5 Stage Purification “what is it and how does it work”

There are many ways of producing pure water and all have their pros and cons, dependant on the area of the country you live in and the quality of water available to that area, and this can vary significantly.

As a contract cleaner ourselves this is of prime importance to us, for whole life running costs of our systems affects the amount of profit we are able to make. The wrong method of water production in an area, although initial investment may be cheap, can prove to be extremely expensive in the long run.

The OutReach system has been designed around a 5 stage industrial purification specification, utilizing the best technologies from all water purification methods, thus ensuring the most efficient and cost effective water production facility. (Beware, not all systems operate all 5 stages as part of the initial package).

Stages 1 & 2

The Pre-Filtration stages, designed to take out, non dissolved particulates such as rust and sediment, bacteria etc, and also residual elements of dissolved particulates such as organic matter, chlorine, iron & manganese, sulphates and other permissible impurities normally found in tap water.

Stage 3

Water Softening is a key element in cost control, in particular in hard water areas. Chalk, Lime, Calcium & Magnesium in particular create scale build up and scum that can ruin kettles, washing machines, dishwashers and the membranes used in Reverse Osmosis units.

To prolong life, be it Brita filters for kettles, Calgon for washing machines, or salt for dishwashers, every manufacturer has accepted that calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or water hardness is an issue.

The OutReach system as standard includes a resin based ion exchange system to ensure your water is softened and that the damaging CaCO3 is exchanged for Na ions (sodium) to protect the Reverse Osmosis Membrane (again beware not all systems on the market include this, leaving the membrane to do all the work)

Stage 4

Reverse Osmosis. What is it?

To understand the principle we must first go back to Osmosis, the movement of water molecules through a semi permeable membrane, from a low concentration solution (pure water) to a high concentration solution (e.g. impure tap water). So if pure water and tap water were placed either side of a membrane, the pure water molecules would flow into the tap water, thus increasing volume and pressure on the tap water side. Therefore, to reverse this process i.e. put tap water under pressure and force it at an artificial semi permeable membrane, the flow is reversed, the membrane expels the high concentrate and allows the dilute (low concentration) or pure water to go through, hence the importance of water softening mentioned above not to clog the membrane with calcium carbonate.

At this point the water is stored in the holding tanks; stage 5 of the process only occurs seconds before the water is put onto the glass.

Stage 5

De Ionisation (D.I.)

Once water has been through the above 4 processes it will be 95%-98% pure. But for the minutest of particulates such as dissolved inorganic salts etc still remain so these are removed seconds before the water gets to the glass, this also ensures no other contamination can occur prior to use.

In fact deionisation is similar to the principle used to soften the water, except the resin used consists of a mixed bed of ion exchange material. The ability of these resins to remove contaminates is so good that D.I. alone can be used to produce pure water.

However unlike the water softener resin the D.I. is so expensive to regenerate it becomes cost prohibitive and therefore has to be changed which can also be expensive if just D.I. is used.

OutReach therefore only use the D.I. resin to polish out the last few remaining contaminates it therefore has very little to do and as a result gives excellent value for money whilst ensuring the water you use is pure.

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