INTRODUCTION
SEAWATER: -Sea water or salt water is water from sea or ocean. Sea or ocean water accounts for the most percentage of water on the earth. Almost anything can be found in sea water. This includes dissolved salts from earth’s crust and material released by micro organisms. It is the most impure form of natural water. Rivers join sea and throw in the impurities carried by them. Moreover continuous evaporation of water from the surface of sea makes sea water continuously richer in dissolved impurities. Sea water is highly saline containing about a large amount of sodium chloride.Average density at the surface is 1.025 g/ml. Since sea water contains large amount of finely suspended particles which can produce disease causing bacteria, so this is considered unsafe for drinking and human consumption.
NEED FOR THE PURIFICATION OF SEAWATER:-Ocean water covers a major part of earth’s water resources. But due to high salinity of ocean water and significant costs of desalination of sea water …show more content…
It is also used by many of the industries as water purification technique. It basically uses a SEMI PERMEABLE MEMBRANE (a membrane with small pores which allows water to pass through it) to purify and remove larger particles in drinking water. In this process, an external pressure has to be applied to overcome osmotic pressure (one of a colligative property), that is carried out by chemical potential. With the help of reverse osmosis we can remove a large number of molecules, ions including bacteria and is used in industrial processes and production of portable water. As a result what happens is that the solute (i.e. the impurities) remains on the pressurised side and solvent is passed through the membrane. Reverse osmosis is basically a diffusive mechanism, as a result the purification of water is depends upon solute concentration, pressure and water flux