Water world: Today, RO is the leading desalination technology - BusinessLine×
From different types of osmoses to new membranes, researchers have come up with ways of drawing water
About four decades ago, scientists blew the dust off a 250-year-old technology and began using it to produce potable water. Called reverse osmosis (RO), it has become the leading method of generating pure water from impure water or brine.
Osmosis is a process by which a liquid moves through a semipermeable membrane from a solution of lower concentration to one of higher concentration due to natural pressure. Reverse osmosis is when the flow is reversed. If you squeeze sea water through a membrane, for instance, pure water will get to the other side. Today, RO is the leading desalination technology. And interesting technologies are further being explored in India and elsewhere to make potable water production cheaper.