Ultra-Filtration (UF) Water Purifier

Ultra-Filtration (UF) Water Purifier 

UF water purifier is one of the famous water purifiers in India. Like Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purifier, it also uses membrane technology; but it retains essential minerals in the water while filtering out bacteria, viruses and parasites. 

 

Availability of pure drinking water is becoming a big challenge in the world. It is predicted (maybe over-predicted) that the next deadliest war will be fought over fresh water. Two-thirds of the earth is cover with water, but only 2.5% of it is fresh water. Water pollution, due to industries and irresponsible behaviours of the human being, is contributing to the scarcity of the resource.

 

It is a severe problem in India as almost 70 per cent of its surface water, and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are getting polluted by biological, toxic, organic, and inorganic pollutants. Impure drinking water containing harmful bacteria, virus, cysts, inorganic elements, dissolved salts and heavy metals, causes severe water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and dysentery.

 

The quality of water and the type and level of impurities mainly depends on the source and distribution medium of the water. Most common sources of drinking water are lakes, rivers, tube-wells, harvested rainwater, water tankers and piped supply network in municipal corporations.

 

Rain and surface water (lakes and rivers) usually have a low Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) as compared to underground water from tube-wells. Tube-wells or groundwater generally has high TDS and often contain chemical impurities including lead and arsenic. Piped water supply and tanker water are generally more prone to biological contamination due to damage, leakage and lack of maintenance.

 

Water purifiers disinfect water and provide pure drinking water. Three most commonly used water purifiers are  

 

1. RO (Reserve Osmosis) water purifier
2. UV (Ultra Violet) water purifier
3. UF (Ultra-Filtration) water purifier

 

UF water purifier removes bacteria, viruses and parasites but retains useful minerals in the water. In this article, we will discuss the UF water purifier and compare it with other water purification systems in the market.

What is UF Water Purifier?

Ultra-Filtration (UF) water purifier uses water pressure to push water through a semi-permeable membrane to filter solid debris and microscopic contaminants. It filters out solid particulate matter at a microscopic level (approximately 5000 times smaller than a human hair). Because it has such a fine micron reduction capacity, it eliminates a vast majority of contaminants like sediment, chlorine and cysts. UF purifier provides a 90-95% reduction of contamination. However, it retains beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium in the water. 

 

UF water purifier is suitable for people who prefer minerals remain in their water but still want microscopic contaminants taken out. Eco-friendly UF purifier can be selected over an RO purifier. It wastes less water to the drain. In India, where there exist regulations on water wastages, UF purifier can be the right choice.

 How Does UF Water Purifier Work?

Ultra-Filtration is one membrane filtration process. It serves as an obstacle to separate harmful bacteria, viruses and other contaminants from clean water. A UF water system forces water through 0.01-micron membrane pores, as compared to RO, which uses a membrane with tiny pores (appx. 0.0001 microns)—suspended solids and solutes that are too large to pass through the membrane stick to the outer membrane surface. Only clean water and low molecular dissolved minerals can pass through the membrane. When tactically combined with other purification technologies in a complete water system, UF system is ideal for the removal of colloids, proteins, bacteria, pyrogens and macromolecules more massive than the membrane pore size from water.

 

Because of larger pores in the membrane, water can pass through the membrane naturally using the force of gravity. It operates even under low water pressure. Since no external pressure or water pump is required, UF purifier works without electricity. This is a distinct advantage of the UF system.

The installation of UF water purifier is effortless. It is simply connected between the water supply and the tap. It does not require a storage tank. UF purifier does not produce wastewater; in fact, it can be used to make wastewater potable. 

 

UV water purifier needs periodic maintenance. It is very simple to clean this device. It contains fine membrane filters, which need to be adequately cleaned. The cleaning process depends on two systems. Whether a UF system is used for removing organic or inorganic contaminants, or even both, you have to use a simple protocol to clean tubular membranes by using low foam; besides it, you can put the detergent. It takes a maximum of 40 - 60 minutes to clean this device. 

 

Advantages of UF Water Purifier

1. UF water purifier is easy-to-install, user-friendly and requires low maintenance
2. It removes 90-95% contamination including bacteria and viruses
3. It retains essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium in water
4. UF system can operate at a low water pressure
5. Since external pressure or water pump is not required, electricity is not necessary to run UF purifier
6. This eco-friendly water purifier wastes less water during purification
7. It does not require a water storage tank

 Disadvantages of UF Water Purifier

1. UF water purifier is not able to remove dissolved solids in water.
2. It cannot change the taste of water.
3. Another limitation of UF water purifier system is, it cannot reduce the hardness of the water.
4. Usually, it leaves heavy metal in the water, such as lead, arsenic, calcium etc..

 

UV vs RO vs UF Water purifier

Now the question arises which water purifier system is perfect for you home or office. For ensuring good health, it is a crucial task to choose the right purifier system. We need to be most careful while selecting the best water purifier because the nature of water is not the same in the whole world. Here we are trying to make you easy to understand which water purification system is suitable for you- 

 

First of all, let's know about UV water purifier. Here, water is disinfected as it runs through a stainless-steel chamber containing the UV lamp. As water flows past the lamp, illness-causing microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and cyst, receive a lethal dose of the UV ray that scrambles their DNAs and kills them.

 

Secondly, RO water purifier passes water molecules through a semi-permeable membrane, which allows only water molecules to move to the other side of the membrane, leaving behind the dissolved salts and other impurities. Hence, RO purified water is free from harmful bacteria and other dissolved contaminants.

 

Thirdly, UF water purifier system is almost similar to RO. Here, passes throughout membranes, which are relatively smaller than RO. Water has to pass a long membrane stick to the outer membrane surface. 

 

UV Purifier System	RO Purifier System	UF Purifier System
UV needs electricity for purifying water.	RO also needs electricity for purification	UF does not require power.
UV requires running water pressure.	In RO there is a pump to create high water pressure to purify water	It can purify water in normal tap water pressure.
It requires periodic maintenance, which is higher than other purifier systems.	RO needs less maintenance than UV.	UF does not need hard maintenance at all.
In terms of electric consumption, it needs 2.5W	RO needs 40W to run this system	UF is a non-electrical purifying device.
UV removes viruses, bacterias through UV Ray.	RO removes viruses, bacterias by using a semi-permeable membrane	UF also uses a semi-permeable membrane
UV ray scrambles DNAs of cyst, bacteria, viruses etc. and kills them. But the dead bodies of the germs remain in the water.	RO can drain out all viruses and bacterias efficiently.	UF does same as RO. It drain out all contaminants.
Wastage of water rate is low	RO waste a large amount of water for purifying water.	UF does not wastewater.
UV cannot dissolves saltwater	It can dissolve the salt and harmful metal.	UF cannot dissolve salt water

 

 

Final Words

The UF water purifier can effectively eliminate 90-95% contamination, including bacteria, viruses and parasites from water using membrane technology. RO purifier uses the same technology, but it removes the majority of the dissolved minerals in the water. UF purifier, on the contrary, retains beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium in the water. However, if anyone prefers to have 100% pure drinking water with no bacteria, virus and TDS, the RO water purifier would be the best water purifier.