30-Year Honor Student Water Purifier, Secret Lies in World-Class R&D

The World's Best 'RO Membrane Filter' Removes Ultra-Fine Ion Particles
Over 270 Researchers and Water Sommeliers Recognized Overseas for Water Analysis Expertise

Coway Filter System

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Recently, as more people seek clean water due to incidents like the tap water larvae crisis, the ability to remove contaminants has emerged as a key criterion for choosing water purifiers. Attention is also focused on the filters of Coway’s home water purifiers, which have maintained a leading position in the water purifier market for over 30 years.

According to Coway, the filters installed in water purifiers typically range from 2 to 3, up to a maximum of 4, and contaminants are sequentially removed as water passes through each stage, producing clean water. Coway’s 'RO Membrane Filter System,' which constitutes this setup, is said to have the best removal performance among existing home water purifier filters.

Looking closer, the 'Neosense' filter first removes particulate matter, sediment, and rust residue, then eliminates residual chlorine. Foreign substances the size of tap water larvae are all filtered out at this stage. The next stage, the 'RO Membrane' filter, is Coway’s core filter that tightly filters contaminants and removes ion substances as small as 0.0005 micrometers (μm), which is one ten-thousandth the size of a human hair. It can remove heavy metals such as mercury and chromium, as well as ultrafine ion substances. The 'Nanotrap' filter, installed in some of Coway’s direct water purifiers, uses a high-efficiency electrostatic method to remove particulate heavy metals like iron and aluminum, as well as microorganisms such as E. coli and norovirus, down to particle sizes of 0.5 to 1 μm. Finally, the 'Plus Inosense' filter removes odor-causing substances and volatile organic compounds, improving the taste of the water.

Behind this filter technology is Coway’s research and development (R&D) capability. Coway is dedicated to innovation and product development based on the Environmental Technology Research Institute, Asia’s largest water R&D facility. The Coway research institute employs about 270 researchers, including certified water specialists (CWS) accredited by the Water Quality Association (WQA) in the United States. There are also 28 'water sommeliers,' experts in water taste. Coway has the competitiveness to conduct all stages?from fundamental research in environmental home appliances, new product development, reliability testing, to certification?in a one-stop process. With 50 laboratories and 330 testing devices, all experiments such as durability tests, performance evaluations, environmental tests, packaging and transportation tests, electrical tests, and failure/fire analysis can be conducted on-site. Additionally, the Environmental Analysis Center within the Environmental Technology Research Institute is recognized by the Ministry of Environment’s drinking water quality inspection agency, the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS) international testing body, the European Union (EU) official certification body, and the Water Quality Association testing laboratory, proving its world-class water analysis capabilities.

The R&D capabilities have led to the launch of innovative products and the development of proprietary technologies. Coway is the only company in the industry to implement the RO membrane filter using a direct water supply method. Park Chan-jung, head of Coway’s Environmental Technology Research Institute, said, "Coway’s Environmental Technology Research Institute is not only delivering healthy life care to consumers with differentiated technology and innovative products but also serving as a mecca for environmental home appliances that improve customers’ quality of life. Based on the highest level of R&D infrastructure, we will lead the global environmental home appliance market beyond Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.