Method and system for treating water
Aspects of embodiments relate to a method for treating water received at a treatment system. The method may include reducing the hardness of the water by subjecting the water to electrolysis by an electrolytic hardness reducer; and substantially removing disinfectant from the water by irradiating the water with ultraviolet light by a UV disinfectant reducer. The method may further include sanitizing the electrolytic hardness reducer and/or sanitizing the UV disinfectant reducing apparatus by running hot water through either one or both of them.
1. A method for treating water received at a treatment system, the method comprising:
reducing the hardness of the water by subjecting the water to electrolysis by an electrolytic hardness reducer;
substantially removing disinfectant from the water by irradiating the water with ultraviolet light by a UV disinfectant reducer; and
subjecting the water to reverse osmosis.
2. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , comprising:
sanitizing the electrolytic hardness reducer by running hot water through it.
3. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , comprising:
sanitizing the UV disinfectant reducing apparatus by running hot water through it.
4. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , comprising:
sanitizing a piping and a storage tank of the treatment system by running hot water through them.
5. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , wherein the received water is first run through the electrolytic hardness reducer to reduce the water hardness and then through the ultraviolet disinfectant reducer for disinfectant removal.
6. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , further comprising flowing water through a reverse osmosis apparatus to the water after removal of disinfectant wherein the electrolytic hardness reducer is operated at a current so that hardness of the water received by the reverse osmosis apparatus is reduced to yield hardness-reduced water to an extent that the conditions required for scale to build up remain substantially unmet at least until the water leaves the reverse osmosis apparatus.
7. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolytic hardness reducer is operated at a current so that water hardness is reduced to an extent that precipitation time downstream of UV disinfectant reducer is at least multiplied by a factor of one and a half for a given polyvalent cation concentration, water pressure, and water temperature.
8. The method for treating water according to claim 7 , wherein the polyvalent cation concentration in the water is about 100 ppm, as CaCO 3 equivalent, or higher, water pressure equals about 2 bar or more; and the water temperature equals about 10° C. or higher.
9. The method for treating water according to claim 7 , wherein the polyvalent cation concentration in the water is about 180 ppm or higher, as CaCO 3 equivalent, water pressure is about 12 bar or more, and the water temperature is about 10° C. or higher.
10. The method for treating water according to claim 7 , wherein the polyvalent cation concentration in the water is about 180 ppm or higher, as CaCO 3 equivalent, water pressure equals about 15 bar or more, and the water temperature is about 10° C. or higher.
11. The method for treating water according to claim 7 , wherein the polyvalent cation concentration in the water is about 180 ppm or higher, as CaCO 3 equivalent, water pressure equals about 15 bar or more, and the water temperature is about 25° C. or higher.
12. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolysis hardness reducer reduces water hardness in a manner that is free of the employment of chemical reagents.
13. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , comprising subjecting the water to deionization.
14. The method for treating water according to claim 1 , comprising evaporation of the water to obtain at least one of the products selected from a group of high-quality water products consisting of: water for injection, and pure steam.
15. A water treatment system, comprising:
an electrolytic hardness reducer;
an ultraviolet disinfectant reducer that is in fluid communication with and downstream from the electrolysis hardness reducer; and
a reverse osmosis apparatus,
wherein the ultraviolet disinfectant reducer is configured to substantially remove disinfectant from the water by irradiating the water with ultraviolet light.
16. The water treatment system according to claim 15 , wherein the electrolytic hardness reducer is operative to reduce the hardness of water provided by a tap water supply to obtain hardness-reduced water and to provide the ultraviolet disinfectant reducer with the hardness-reduced water to substantially remove disinfectants from the hardness-reduced water.
17. The water treatment system according to claim 16 , which is free of a sodium bisulfite supply and free of an active carbon filter.
18. The system according to claim 15 , free of a softening agent.
19. The method according to claim 1 wherein the water hardness is reduced solely by the electrolytic hardness reducer.
20. The method according to claim 1 wherein the disinfectant removed from the water is a chlorine disinfectant selected from the group consisting of free chlorine and chlorine compounds.