Application of the Reverse Osmosis Process in Water Treatment in Iran

Document Type : Review article

Authors
Fatemeh Mohebbi 1
Mohammad Bagher Miranzadeh 2
Rouhullah Dehghani 2
Heshmatollah Moradpour 2
Davarkhah Rabbani 2
saeid Karami Oshtorjani 3
1 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
3 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Isfahan Health Center, Isfahan, Iran
10.4103/ijehe.ijehe_7_23
Abstract
Reverse osmosis (RO) is one of the water treatment processes based on solvent mass transfer using a semipermeable membrane to separate the inorganic, organic and toxic substances from drinking water. The purpose of this study was to review the researches done in Iran on the RO. This narrative review investigated the 200 original articles published during 1998 - 2022. Water quality, RO, desalination, and membrane processes were used as keywords in this study. The search was accomplished in the website of reliable journals and many databases, including Web of Science (ISI), Ovid, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database, Iran Medex, and Magiran. In order to extract their contents, 69 articles were selected. This study showed that between the studied elements, fluoride and free chlorine in the effluent of RO are less than the WHO guideline levels. The elements measured in the different studies are not the same and each study has been designed based on the needs and available facilities and the opinions of researchers on the specific elements. Elimination of free residual chlorine can increase the risk of waterborne diseases. Reduction of fluoride to less than the guideline level can increase the number of decayed teeth among consumers. It is recommended to investigate the impacts of the drain of RO plants on environment.

Keywords

International Journal of Environmental Health Engineering (IJEHE)
Volume 2025, August
2025
Pages 1-5

  • Receive Date 06 September 2025