Alternative to reverse osmosis for water treatment: A review of emerging treatment techniques

Abstract

Reverse Osmosis is a water treatment process in which water is demineralised by forcing it through a semi
permeable membrane. The demineralised water is called permeate and the water stream which carries the salt is
called reject. But there are many problems associated with the treatment process and major ones are its high energy
consumption due to use of high pressure pumps and environmental concerns related to high concentration of salt in
reject water and health concern due to acidic permeate water which may cause calcium depletion from bones and
teeth over prolonged use. This paper reviews the emerging technologies like Distillation, Capacitive desalination by
Carbon Aerogel electrodes, Filtration by perforated graphene membranes, Nanotechnology for water treatment,
which can be used to replace the reverse osmosis water treatment technology.