Unlike osmosis, we cannot simply observe reverse osmosis in many everyday circumstances. It was only in the 1950s when researchers began to study how desalinate ocean water that reverse osmosis was considered as a possibility. They found that applying pressure to the salt water side could work to produce more fresh water, but the amount they created was extremely small and useless on any practical scale. What changed?

A much more advanced filter, created by two scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hand molded membranes cellular acetate (the polymer used in photographic film) allowed more water to pass through much faster, and in 1965 the first plan for reverse osmosis desalination was launched in Coaling, California. [source: The Economist].

This brings us to one of the most common applications of reverse osmosis, which we have already discussed: water desalination. Including large factories (more than 177 countries). with the help of desalination) or smaller operations like a filter you can take on a hike to ensure healthy drinking water. [source: FDU].

Reverse osmosis is also one of the few ways to remove certain minerals or chemicals from water. Some water sources have extremely high levels of natural fluoridation, which can lead to enamel fluorosis (mottled teeth) or much more severe skeletal fluorosis (actual bending of human bones or skeleton). Reverse osmosis can filter out fluorine or other impurities on a large scale, which a charcoal-based filter (such as the one most commonly found in homes) cannot.

It is also used for recycling; chemicals used to treat metals for recycling create harmful wastewater, and reverse osmosis can pull clean water for better chemical disposal. But even more fun than recycling? Wastewater treatment is reverse osmosis, in which wastewater is put through a process to create something drinkable. They don’t call it the “faucet toilet” for nothing, and while it may make you think, it’s a promising way for developing countries to produce drinking water.

But reverse osmosis is used in other industries as well; maple syrupis essentially made using osmosis to separate the sugary concentrate from the water in the juice. V dairy industry uses reverse osmosis filtration to concentrate whey and milk, and the wine industry uses it filter out unwanted items such as certain acids, smoke, or to control alcohol content. Reverse osmosis is used to create pure ethanol free of impurities.

Another fun thing about reverse osmosis is that the high pressure that makes reverse osmosis efficient can actually recycle itself. High pressure pumps pump the water and the remaining salt water is ejected at an extremely high rate. If this branch passes through a turbine or motor, the pressure can be reused for the pumps that originally pump water, thus re-collecting energy.

All this industrial jazz is great, but how does reverse osmosis technology affect you, the consumer, on a smaller scale?