Personal portable self‐powered drinking water treatment device

Abstract The presence of pathogenic microorganisms and excessive amounts of magnesium, nitrate and nitrite ions and also heavy metals in surface and underground water sources such as rivers and wells affect human health when used as drinking water. In this research, by combining membrane and adsorption processes, a personal drinking water treatment system was designed and built without the need for electrical energy. The performance of the designed system was evaluated with different samples of surface and underground water. The results showed that the number of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) in the purified water by polypropylene hollow fiber membranes with pore sizes of 30–200 nm is zero. Moreover, the physical properties of the water, such as pH, total hardness (TH), total dissolved solids (TDS), as well as the concentration of nitrate, nitrite and sulfate ions are compatible with national and World Health Organization (WHO) standards after passing through an adsorbent bed of ion‐exchange resins regenerated with NaCl and NH 4 HCO 3 . The results revealed that the designed system can treat water up to 100 times the volume of the resin used, in accordance with the national standards 1053, 1011, and WHO. Highlights A personal self‐powered drinking water treatment device was fabricated. The E. coli count in the treated water is zero. The physical properties of the treated water are compatible with WHO. The device can treat water up to 100 times the volume of the resin used.