Water Filters For Iron & Manganese

Iron and manganese are naturally occurring elements and are very commonly encountered within the structure of rocks. So it's not surprising that many drilled wells, which are typically drilled into rock, end up with a permanent concentration of iron and/or manganese in the resulting water supply. And while these are indeed naturally occurring elements, it doesn't make them any less nasty as a water contaminant. In fact, after water softeners, iron and manganese filtration is the next most common piece of equipment inquired about and sold here at Aquatell. This is very likely because the presence of the elements, even in quite low concentrations can have a devastating effect on domestic life: stained porcelain fixtures, stained laundry, destruction of appliances, and awful taste and odour.

A question we commonly filed here is why iron filters are also capable of removing manganese. As is often the case, the answer lies in the chemistry. Iron and Manganese (Fe & Mn) are neighbours on periodic table:

Elements on the periodic table are arranged in Periods which are rows and in Groups which are the columns. Elements that sit side-by-side in the same period share a very similar electron configuration. Electron configuration is one of the key predictors of how an element will react in a chemical reaction. Iron and Manganese's proximity on the periodic table suggests that they will undergo the same chemistry. This means they can be filtered using the same technique.

Both Manganese and Iron are capable of being found in water in two main forms. One form, the non-oxidized (aka "soluble") form results in water that is clear. This type of iron and manganese is often referred to as clear water iron and clear water manganese.

Because of the highly reactive nature of these two elements, both can be readily oxidized into a non-soluble form. Many water filters use this phenomenon to filter these destructive elements from water by reacting them with oxygen, and filtering out the particles.