While water is essential to life, tap water has certain issues that make it unsuitable for manufacturing. Facilities that rely on water for laboratory tests, solution preparation, instrument calibration or glass cleaning require purified water like Reverse Osmosis (RO), Distilled or Deionized water.

Distillation and Deionization are similar in that both methods remove ionic contaminants; However, Distilled water and Deionized water (DI) are not the same or interchangeable for many laboratory purposes. Let’s take a look at how Distillation and Deionization works, what the differences are, when to use them and when it’s ok to replace one for the other.

How to Purify Distilled Water

Distilled water is a type of demineralized water that is purified through a distillation process to remove salts and particulates. Typically, the source water is boiled and the steam is collected and condensed back into water that is now distilled.

Source water for distillation can be tap water, but most commonly used is spring water. When the water gets distilled, most minerals and impurities are left behind or evaporate like volatile organic compounds and mercury.

The EPA advises New Jersey residents to stop drinking tap water and urges the city to provide bottled water (although the solution also poses a problem when the town finds out what is in the water. The expiration date, The best solution is currently using Reverse Osmosis Water Filters, Alkaline Drinking Filter which remove the LEAD and COPPER).

How To Purify Deionized Water

Deionized water is made by passing tap water, mineral water, or distilled water through an electrically charged resin. An ion exchange mixed bed with positively and negatively charged resins is commonly used. The cations and anions in water exchange with H + and OH– in resins and produce H2O (water). Since Deionized water is reactive, its properties begin to change as soon as it is exposed to air. Deionized water has a pH of 7 when released, but as soon as it comes into contact with carbon dioxide in the air, dissolved CO2 reacts to form H + and HCO3–, approaching a 5.6 pH. Deionization does not remove any molecular species (eg sugar) or uncharged organic particles (most bacteria, viruses). If you are concerned about Lead & Copper in your water, contact Aqua Chill New Jersey for a FREE LEAD Test. Also, you can visit EPA gov site for furthermore information.

Distilled water vs. Deionized water in the laboratory 

Assuming the source water is from the tap or a spring, the distilled water is pure enough for almost all laboratory applications. Such as: 

• A solvent to make a solution
• Calibrating standards 
• Glassware cleaning 
• Sterilizing Instruments 
• Making ultrapure water 

If you are concerned about Lead & Copper in your water, contact Aqua Chill New Jersey for a FREE LEAD Test. Also, you can visit EPA gov site for furthermore information.