Effect of Magnetic Treatment on Water Permeability Through a Semi-Permeable Membrane

Abstract

Magnetic water treatment devices (MWT), while attractive because of their safety, simplicity, environmental friendliness and effectiveness in agriculture have been difficult to assess scientifically because a single, generally accepted, repeatable and measurable indicator of their decree of impact on the physical properties of water, has not been discovered. Experimental results have shown that MWT offers many agricultural benefits and that magnetically-treated water can more easily penetrate various media such as membranes, which are generally considered excellent proxies for plant cell walls. This study evaluated how MWT changes permeability through a semi-permeable membrane, how that change is impacted by flow velocity and proposed membrane permeability as a reliable indicator of MWT effectiveness. Results obtained from this study indicated that MWT changed permeability through a semi-permeable membrane and these changes depended on water flow velocity. Results further indicated that the permeability differential in the MWT treatment group decreased by almost 9% at low-flow velocities (laminar regime; Re 4000). At low-flow velocities, the electro-conductivity of MWT and the control group were statistically different at p ≤ 0.01. However, at higher-flow velocities, the difference between MWT and the control group was smaller and a statistically sufficient level was reached only at p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.10. The differences observed between the low, and high-flow velocity treatment groups was somewhat expected as high flow rates reduce the retention time of water in the treatment area and thus reduces the efficiency of magnetic treatment. These results also provide a clear indication that water has been impacted by MWT and demonstrate the degree that water has been impacted by MWT under various flow rates.