Water filtration media, apparatus and processes

A process for the filtration of potable water which comprises flowing said water through a filter composed of synthetic potassium aluminosilicate media which removes oxygen from said water, wherein said potassium aluminosilicate media was subjected to ultraviolet radiation during its formation resulting in a non-crystalline structure and having pores, the diameters of said pores being at least about 60 Angstrom units.

An apparatus for the filtration of water which comprises a dispensing unit for dispensing said water, a filtration unit for filtering the water received by said dispensing unit, said filtration unit comprising a container which comprises a synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate filtration media which was subjected to ultraviolet radiation during its formation resulting in said non-crystalline structure, said synthetic potassium aluminosilicate filtration media having pores, the diameters of said pores being at least 60 Angstroms.

A process for dispensing potable water which comprises the steps of filtering said water with a synthetic potassium aluminosilicate filter material which is non-crystalline having pores formed by subjecting said material to ultraviolet radiation during its formation and composed of about 10-21% Al2O3.3H2O and 68-72% K2O.2.88-3.22SiO2+2-4H2O, and 7-11% KOH, by weight, the pores of said potassium aluminosilicate material having diameters of at least about 60 Angstrom units, and said potassium aluminosilicate material adsorbing dissolved oxygen and removing impurities from said water before said water is dispensed.

A process for filtration of water to improve its carbonation either in the form of potable carbonated water, or as a carbonated beverage formed by mixing said carbonated water with a beverage syrup, which comprises the filtration of the water before it is carbonated by filtering said water through synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate media having pores of at least about 60 Angstrom formed by exposing said media to ultraviolet radiation during its formation, said media removing potassium substantially all dissolved lead, oxygen, calcium, calcium bicarbonate, ammonia, sodium sulfite, hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide that is in said water therefrom prior to carbonation.

An apparatus for the filtration of water to improve its carbonation either in the form of potable carbonated water or as a carbonated beverage formed by mixing said carbonated water with a beverage syrup, which comprises a carbonation unit for dissolving carbon dioxide in water under a pressure in the range of about two to five atmospheres, a dispenser for selectively receiving carbonated water from said carbonation unit and dispensing said carbonated water at atmospheric pressure, said carbon dioxide dissolved in said water in said carbonator causing an effervescence in a carbonated beverage dispensed from said dispenser, a filtration unit for filtering the water received by said carbonation unit, said filtration unit comprising a container which contains synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate filtration media having pores and formed by exposing said media to ultraviolet radiation during its formation, sodium originally in said potassium aluminosilicate media having been largely displaced by potassium and said potassium aluminosilicate media's pores having a diameter of at least about 60 Angstroms for adsorbing dissolved impurities from said water supply before it is introduced into said carbonation unit.

In the process of carbonating water, the improvement comprising:

• filtering the water with a synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate filter material having pores of at least about 60 Angstrom prior to carbonating the water, said pores having been formed by exposing said media to ultraviolet radiation during formation.

A method of filtering water in an inverted bottle type water dispenser comprising,

• funneling water from an inverted bottle of an inverted bottle type dispenser to a gravity filter compartment containing a filtration media which is composed, at least in part, of a synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate media having pores of at least about 60 Angstrom formed by exposing said media to ultraviolet radiation during its formation,
• passing said water through said filtration media so that one or more substances selected from the group consisting of oxygen, lead, zinc, copper, calcium, calcium bicarbonate, ammonia, sodium sulfite and hydrogen sulfide is substantially removed from said water,
• discharging said water from said filter compartment directly to a water reservoir of said water dispenser.

A process of removing lead from water which comprises flowing water through a filtration media comprising:

• a synthetic aluminosilicate gel,
• said synthetic aluminosilicate gel having been exposed to ultraviolet radiation for at least a sufficient period to commence formation of a porous non-crystalline structure,
• said porous non-crystalline structure in said aluminosilicate gel comprising pore diameters which are at least 60 Angstroms.

For use in the process of the filtration of drinking water, a filtration media comprising:

• a synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate gel in a molded form which is blended with activated carbon and comprised of fine particles, said particles having diameters of approximately five to one hundred microns;
• wherein the ratio by weight of said potassium aluminosilicate gel to said activated carbon in said particles is between about five and twenty-five per cent to between about seventy-five and ninety-five per cent.

A process of filtering drinking water by flowing it through a filtration media comprising:

• a synthetic, non-crystalline potassium aluminosilicate gel in extruded form comprised of fine particles, said particles being approximately 1-100 microns in diameter, mixed with activated carbon and a binder, wherein the ratios by weight of said potassium aluminosilicate gel particles, said activated carbon particles and said binder is 45%-90%:
• 8%-45%:
• 2%-8%.