Concerned about the safety profile of the water you drink in your home? The surge in industrial processes has left a dent in the health of the majority of the populace. One very important aspect where these negative effects are felt is in the kind of water we drink, as lots of water sources are infiltrated with poly fluorinated substances. When chemicals are used industrially to make a lot of consumer products, they tend to accumulate in the environment. Common examples of these include per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS). These substances have been found to readily dissolve in water and because of their chemical properties, regular drinking water treatment technologies are very poor at removing them. Wondering about how to remove fluoride from your drinking water This article discusses the methods which work best to remove toxic fluorinated chemicals present in drinking water.
Ion Exchange Water Treatment
This is one brilliant way to eradicate toxic fluorinated chemicals from your drinking water. It is done via the use of ion exchange resins, which are comprised of very porous, polymeric material that are acid, base and water insoluble. Ion exchange resins fall under either one of two major categories: cationic or anionic. For the negatively charged cationic exchange resins (CER), they effectively remove positively charged contaminants while positively charged anionic exchange resins (AER) help to take out negatively charged contaminants like PFAS. Because of how powerful ion exchange resins are, they magnetically hold on to contaminated materials and prevent them from passing through the water system. https://ro-guide.com gives you a breakdown of the effects of toxic substances in water, and how to get rid of them.
Activated Carbon Treatment
The use of activated carbon for the removal of toxic fluorinated chemicals has been extensively studied. Effective uses of activated carbon include the adsorption of natural and synthetic organic compounds present in drinking water treatment systems. This adsorption involves accumulating substances like toxic fluorinated chemicals at the interface between solid and liquid phases. Since activated carbon is very porous, it provides a large surface area which helps the adsorption of contaminants. There are two common forms of activated carbon used to remove fluoride and treat water:
Granular Activated Carbon (GAC)
Activated carbon in its granular form, called granular activated carbon (GAC) is effective at getting rid of toxic fluorinated chemicals when used in a flow-through filter mode. This method is often used in filtering large volumes of water.
Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC)
This type of activated carbon is similar to the granular form in effectivity, but this one is smaller in size and powder-like. Due to this smaller particle size, PAC is better used when added directly to water, instead of when added to a flow-through bed. This way, those fluorinated particles can be removed alongside other natural particles when going through a conventional water treatment process e.g. at ultrafiltration stage. It is to be noted that PAC is not as strong as GAC in removing fluorinated chemicals. Instead, it is best used to remove fluoride substances in small amounts, making it very effective for home use.
High-pressure Membranes: Reverse Osmosis/Nanofiltration
Toxic fluorinated chemicals have been effectively removed by high pressure membranes like nanofiltration and reverse osmosis processes. While nanofiltration membranes are quick to reject hardness to high degrees yet allow sodium chloride to pass through, reverse osmosis membranes reject all salts. Therefore, nanofiltration is better at taking out particles while retaining valuable minerals which reverse osmosis removes completely.
Regardless, both processes are highly effective at removing over 90% of toxic fluorinated chemicals. In both high pressure membrane types, over 80% of the feed water i.e. the water entering the membrane passes through the membrane to get to the effluent (treated water), with 20% of the feed water retained as high-strength concentrated waste.
Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration are processes properly suited for use in the home, as volume of water being treated at home is relatively small and as well, waste stream can be disposed off very easily in these settings.
Wrapping Up
With the aid of these methods of processing water, you no longer have to worry incessantly about the safety of the water you drink to remove fluoride from your drinking watre.
