Buy a water deironizer

Deironizer of water from the well

From the contents of this interesting article you will learn:

1. The dangers of high iron content in water

2. Types of iron

3. treatment methods

4. What is the best method of de-ironization

5. Conclusions

Water is used in all spheres of life. This applies to domestic use: for drinking, cooking, washing, washing dishes. So and industrial production: manufacturing products, washing equipment, for the needs of workers. Initial sources of water do not have the necessary characteristics for use without preliminary treatment. Even borehole water, which seemingly should not contain any contaminants, is filled with various elements. Groundwater makes a long journey through a large number of layers of earth before it is brought up to the outside by drilling wells. During this time, they accumulate large amounts of harmful elements that often negatively affect human health and activity. One such element is iron.

1. The dangers of elevated iron in water

Elevated iron content in water makes it unusable. The concentration of ferrum can be different. It depends on the terrain, the neighborhood of any production, agricultural land. Such water has an unpleasant metallic taste and odor. Although the odor is not always present. But the main difference between a high concentration of iron is the color. It can be from red to brown and manifests itself at the moment when oxygen enters the water. You will not want to consume such a liquid, having appreciated its unpleasant appearance visually. Water saturated with iron, carries a lot of harm. The fact is that when iron ions are in the human body, they begin to displace copper, which, of course, leads to a deficiency of the element. In this case, immunity decreases, intestinal problems begin, the endocrine system and thyroid suffers. And this is already a hormonal failure.
As for household appliances, their fate is also unenviable. With the constant use of such water, all devices fall into disrepair, plaque is formed and corrosion. Sanitary equipment acquires unsightly red stains, which are almost nothing to remove. In industrial production, the use of such water will lead to poor-quality products and equipment failure. In any case, water with a high concentration of iron can cause significant material damage. Therefore, it is extremely important to prevent the presence of such impurities and perform effective filtration.

Fig. 1 Iron in water

2. Types of iron

Iron can be of several types: divalent, trivalent, bacterial, and organic. The most common type is divalent. It is in this form that the element is found in well water. You can not immediately determine its presence, because iron is in a dissolved form. Therefore, the water has a normal appearance and is distinguished only by a ferrous taste. Changes come when oxygen enters the water. The oxidation process begins and the iron becomes undissolved, trivalent. At the same time, a sediment appears and the liquid becomes rust-colored. To determine the presence of iron, you can pour water from the well into any container and let it stand for a while. External changes will occur fairly quickly. If the concentration of iron in the water is high, the color change occurs almost immediately.
Bacterial type of iron is formed if there are certain kinds of bacteria in the water. It is in the process of their vital activity that iron compounds are formed. Determine the presence of this type of iron will also help sedimentation. A film appears on the surface of the water. Organic impurities are dissolved substances of biological origin. Remove this type of iron is quite problematic and only reagents can help. The fact is that iron ions are very closely adhered to organic elements and simple treatment methods will not help to effectively purify water. In determining the type of element and its concentration, chemical analysis of water will help. Depending on the type of iron, the filtration method is selected.

3. Treatment methods

In order to select the right treatment method, the water must be chemically analyzed. Rapid tests are not suitable for this case. They will only show the presence of the element, not its concentration. And this is the most important value for the selection of equipment. Water sampling can be done independently or call specialists. When contacting any company to submit water for analysis, there is such an additional service. Qualified workers come and take water for analysis according to all the required rules, and then deliver the container to the laboratory. If you do the intake yourself, then it is necessary to adhere to the following rules:
Pump the borehole.
Let the water run for a couple of minutes.
Fill the reservoir. This can be a plastic container from under mineral water or water, with a volume of 1-1,5 liters. The main thing is not to use bottles after carbonated or colorful drinks. It is important to draw water avoiding contact with oxygen. After the intake, make sure that there is no air between the neck and the cap.
Take the container to the laboratory within two hours.
After receiving the results, which will indicate the concentration, you can proceed to the selection of the method. There are quite a few of them. Folk methods, known for years, it is better not to use. Such methods include settling, freezing, boiling. A large volume of water will not be cleared, and the efficiency is not much. Modern methods allow you to quickly and qualitatively purify water from iron impurities. If necessary, you can combine several methods in one filtration system, which will allow you to get a faster result. But, again, it is worth to start from the initial data of well water, the necessary capacity and space for installation of equipment. In addition, the economic aspect is not the least important. Chemical analysis of well water should be done at the initial stage when choosing a method and after installation of the equipment, to confirm the effectiveness of purification.

3.1 Mechanical
This type of purification is used for preliminary purification and can not replace full-fledged purification. For this purpose, coarse filters are installed to trap particularly large undissolved compounds. They can be mesh or cartridge. Recently, disk filters are gaining popularity. Removes only trivalent iron, against dissolved is useless. Installing several such filtration elements does not increase efficiency.

Fig. 2 Coarse filter

3.2 Aeration
Aeration is a method of oxygenation of water, which starts the oxidation of the medium. This method is of two types: pressurized and non-pressurized. Both methods use an aeration column. It is effective when the iron content in the water is not more than 10 mg / l.
Unpressurized aeration occurs by splashing the water stream with a sprayer. In this case, the storage tank is large enough to create a larger area of contact between water and air. In the aeration column a reaction takes place and iron precipitates out. The clean water is pumped to the user and the sludge is disposed of.

Fig. 3 Unpressurized aeration

Pressure aeration has the same basis of purification - oxidation of the medium. However, the aeration column is already filled with water and the air is forced by means of a compressor. Oxidation also takes place and precipitate falls out. With this method, you can make the equipment yourself. This will require a tank, a pump, a compressor and pipes. But such installations are short-lived and their productivity is quite low.

Fig. 4 Pressure aeration of water

For more effective removal of impurities, a deironing filter is installed together with the aeration method. For this purpose a sorption filter or a membrane is used. When combining the two methods, filtration is divided into two stages. Aeration allows to oxidize the medium, and both pressure and non-pressure methods can be used. And the deferrizer purifies, removing sediment and normalizing the composition of water.
Of the advantages of this method can be emphasized environmental friendliness. That is, no chemical components are used during deferrization, and therefore there will be no decay elements. But at the same time, the method of aeration is quite slow. Even when using sorbents. In addition, it can only help with low iron concentrations. So it is used at low capacity. Or when filtering water during certain periods, such as summer.

3.3 Reagent-based

One method of iron removal is the use of sodium hypochlorite. In the past, de-ironing was done using chlorine or manganese. But the technology is outdated and has shown to be ineffective compared to other chemicals. Purification with chlorine leads to the appearance of chloride decomposition products, which means that such water can not be considered clean. Sodium hypochlorite is an optimal substitute, capable of treating water with iron content up to 20 mg/l. De-ironing takes place when a concentrate is dosed into the water. Hypochlorite reacts with iron molecules and precipitates. The stream is then mechanically cleaned, freed from the precipitate and supplied to the consumer. This method is quite budgetary due to the cost of the chemical. And allows you to effectively and quickly purify water even at high concentrations of iron. However, there are also enough disadvantages. It is necessary to very accurately calculate the amount of the supplied reagent. Depends on the volume of filtered water and the concentration of iron. It is mandatory to install a doser and it is desirable to automate the system. This method is more relevant for large production facilities that require constant filtration of a large volume of water and the possibility of proper utilization of waste water.

Fig. 5 Reagent filter deferrizer

3.4 Reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis system is used for small capacity applications. It can be used for deferrization in domestic or small-scale production. The filtering element is a membrane, the surface of which consists of many small cells. Such pores are able to pass only water molecules. The remaining impurities remain in the cells. To remove impurities, the membrane is periodically washed. Among the advantages of reverse osmosis is the complete elimination of iron impurities. But at the same time, the system has a rather low productivity. Therefore, for deferrization in large production facilities, another method should be used or combined with other technologies.

Fig. 6 Industrial reverse osmosis system "Wagner-5000" with pretreatment capacity 5 m3/hour

3.5 Ozonation

Ozonation can be attributed to universal methods. It will not only purify the water from iron impurities, but also eliminate all unpleasant odors. Ozone is a very strong oxidizer. Water, as with aeration, is saturated with ozone and oxidation occurs. The precipitate is removed by additional filters. Those ozone molecules that have not reacted are dissolved. The advantages of the method are its flexibility, allowing to eliminate iron ions without disturbing the acid-alkaline balance of water. From the disadvantages stand out the cost of the system itself. The fact is that ozone is not supplied as a finished product, but is made in ozonators. Such a device is quite voluminous and is not cheap. In addition, a doser is required to supply the gas to the water. At high concentrations of ozone in the water, the medium is strongly oxidized and this deteriorates its performance. To optimize the calculations, the amount of ozone injected should match the amount of iron impurities.

3.6 Ion exchange

Another method can be used in water deferrization - ion exchange. The ionic resin plays the main role. Synthetic analogs can also be used. The essence of the method consists in ion substitution. Iron ions, passing through the filter, combine with resin particles. Solid compounds are formed. At the same time there is a release of sodium ions, which are completely safe. This method is very effective and allows to remove undissolved iron without oxidizing the medium. But in addition to the obvious advantages, the method has disadvantages. Namely the constant mandatory cleaning. With this filter it is not even cleaning, but regeneration. The ionic resin loses its properties over time, because it gives up sodium ions. It must be re-saturated. For this purpose, a salt solution is used. Ion filters are washed with the solution, purifying and re-forming compounds. It is better to use this technology in industry. Because first of all, a special tank is required to create a salt solution and a doser for its supply to the filter. Secondly, when disposing of water after treatment, re-cleaning is necessary. Wastewater is saturated not only with iron impurities, but also has a high concentration of salt, which is unacceptable for discharge into the sewer system. The only option that is acceptable for households is "disposable" filters. That is, after their filling does not require washing, they are simply replaced with new ones. But this method is also quite expensive.

Fig. 7 Ion exchange water softener

3.7 Backfill filter

This type of filtration uses catalytic oxidation technology. The basis is a special backfill consisting of granules of a certain size. Different backfills have different granule sizes and iron concentrations. Regardless of this, the oxidation process itself is carried out in the same way. The water stream is fed into a tank with a backfill filter. As it passes through, the medium is oxidized and iron molecules are deposited on the surface of the beads. When the filter is backwashed, all impurities are washed out and utilized. Reagents can be added to increase capacity. This method is effective at iron concentration in water not more than 10 mg/l. If you use the technology with a large content of impurities, the composition of water will only deteriorate. In addition, it does not get rid of organic iron.

Fig. 8 Reagentless water deferrizer

4. What is the best method of deferrization?

Approaching the question of choosing a method and equipment for deferrization of water from the well should first of all pay attention to the composition of the source water. If the concentration of iron is small and requires only periodic purification, there is no need to install bulky systems and the use of reagents. For the household segment, it is preferable to install systems that do not use chemicals. That is, the safest method will be aeration. But again depends on the initial composition of water. In the industrial sector, large-scale water purification systems are used and the removal of iron impurities is only one of the stages of water purification. In this case, the use of reagents is acceptable, as there is a possibility of proper utilization of wastewater and subsequent water treatment. It is also possible to combine several treatment methods for large concentrations of iron in water.

For a simpler choice of method, several nuances are distinguished:

• Performance. Each method has its own rate of purification. For example, with aeration, deferrization will take longer than with the use of reagents.
• One-time purification. In this point, the average data of one water intake and the rate of removal of iron impurities are taken. That is, with a greater capacity of the system will require more consumables and, consequently, an increase in material costs.
• Features of the filter. Each filter element has its own basis, which can affect the characteristics of water.
• Purpose. For drinking water, fine purification from iron impurities is mandatory, and for technical water it is not fundamental.
• The cost of equipment and maintenance.
• The need to install additional components. This can include water flow sensors, dosers, pumps, compressors and other elements to modernize the system.

5. Conclusions

Almost any borehole water has iron molecules in its composition. And filtration is a must before drinking it. First of all, for the preservation of health. In addition, purified water will get rid of many problems. For example, it will prolong the life of appliances and equipment. There will be no unforeseen expenses for the replacement of plumbing fixtures.
If possible, it is better to entrust the selection of purification methods and equipment to specialists. If you choose independently, you can make a number of mistakes and end up with poorly treated water. Mistakes can be when taking water for analysis, incorrectly selected method, failure to take into account any details of the installation of equipment, with incorrect economic calculations. Also do not forget that borehole water has the property to change the composition. It depends on groundwater and the ecological situation of the area. Therefore, chemical analysis of water should be carried out once a year for existing wells. And once a quarter for new wells. If the iron concentration changes, the system should be modernized by combining several purification technologies or adding filtration elements.

Below is a video on how to assemble a water de-ironizer