Buying Tips - Water Purification Systems For Laboratory

The whole earth is covered with nearly 71% of water. Life exists on the earth’s surface because of the presence of water. Water contains many substances like minerals, chemical compounds, organic compounds, and microorganisms. Water has its own importance of all life means. Water is available to human beings through various sources like lakes, rivers, seas, oceans, or reservoirs. It is purified through various processes and is used for various purposes like domestic uses such as drinking, cleaning, or washing, industrial purposes, and more.

Domestic consumers considered that tap water is the purified form of water and is used for drinking and cooking. But lab scientists consider it as the most contaminated water. Water is the important reagent of water in the laboratory and has more contaminants such as particulates, organics, inorganics, and microorganisms that may interfere and interact with other substances under test and may provide different results at different times. It is important to analyze the quality of the water that is used for laboratory applications. It is vital to use purified water for laboratory analysis.

Water purification system for laboratory plays an important role in laboratory analysis and applications. This water purification system for laboratory uses different grades of purified water concerning the sensitivity required for laboratory applications. It is also important to determine the right grade of water for your lab applications. As the quality of purified water increases and hence the laboratory water purification system price increases. The high-grade purified water improves the accuracy of the laboratory analysis results.

The contaminants and impurities must be removed from the water to get highly purified water. Purchasing the right water purification system laboratory is more essential. Here we discuss the tips for purchasing the right lab water purification system considering different factors in the selection process.

1. Feedwater

The contaminants in the water differ with the source, geographical area, and seasons. If the feedwater is groundwater then feed water may contain more dissolved inorganic impurities and reduced organic impurities than the surface water. The hardness of the groundwater is increasing with the dissolved inorganic impurities present in the water.

The surface water has more organic impurities such as vegetal debris, biological wastes, and inorganic impurities such as man-made pesticides, fertilizers, and detergents.

The best understanding of the source of feed water, the level, and the type of contaminants in the feedwater is essential. This will help determine how much purification is required and how to reach the purity level with different methods for specific laboratory analysis.

2. Water Purity

The contaminants present in the water are the critical factor that is to be concerned more in many research applications. Hence the water purity level gets its importance in the laboratory. Therefore, several organizations have established different specifications and the contaminant level of different grades of lab purified water systems. 

There are different grades of water as per ASTM standards, that are used for various laboratory applications.

Lab Water Purification System – TYPE 1 (Ultrapure/ Reagent grade)

This ultrapure water system for laboratory is required for most water critical applications such as buffer for HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography), GC (Gas Chromatography), AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry), ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry)

Culture Media for Mammalian cell culture, IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), and Reagents for Microbiology applications

Lab Water Purification System –Type 2 ( Pure/Analytical grade)

This pure/analytical grade water purification system laboratory is used for standard applications such as buffers, media preparation, certain clinical analyzers, pH solutions, and weather meters feed. It is commonly fed as input water to get ultrapure water system for laboratory

Lab Water Purification System-Type 3 (Pure/ Laboratory-grade)

This water purification system laboratory is used for general laboratory applications (non-critical work) such as glassware rinsing, autoclaves filling, heating baths, humidifiers, disinfector feed. This Type 3 water is also used as environmental chambers, and plant growth rooms. This type 3 purified water is commonly used as feed to the ultrapure water system for the laboratory.

3. Purification Techniques Used

There are several methods followed to purify the water. Each method removes certain contaminants. These methods have their own advantages and limitations. All the contaminants cannot be removed in a single method. Different methods are followed to purify the contaminants (particulates, organic, inorganic, or microorganisms to be negligible.). The different techniques used in the water purification process are as follows.

Different methods for water pretreatment

  • Microporous depth filters - removes large suspended particles and some colloids from the water entering the purification process.
  • Activated Carbon (AC)- in pretreatment media - Removes chlorine and dissolved organics to some extent.

Different stages are followed to reduce the damage of the subsequent water purification components. This pretreatment purification stage reduces the operational cost preventing the damage of expensive components in the laboratory water purification process. 

MethodsAdvantageDisadvantage
Reverse Osmosis (RO)Effectively removes all types of contaminants to a certain extent Requires minimal maintenance.Only limited Contaminants are removed.RO membranes lead to fouling and piercing if not protected properly.
Ion Exchange (IX)Effective at removing ionsRemoves more ions and the resistivity increased to 1-10 MΩ.cm with a single pass through the resin bed.Resistivity increased to 18 MΩ.cm with proper pretreatmentEasy to useLow capital costLimited or no removal of particles, colloids, organics, or microorganismsRegeneration requires strong acid and baseProne to organic foulingRepeated regenerations can result in resin breakdown and cause water contaminationRisk of organic contamination from previous uses
ElectrodeionizationRemoves dissolved inorganics effectively.Regenerable (service deionization).Relatively inexpensive initial capital investmentDoes not effectively remove particles, or bacteria.Operating costs increase over the long run.
DistillationRemoves a broad range of contaminantsReusableSome contaminants can be carried into the condensateRequires careful maintenance to ensure purityConsumes large amounts of energyThe system usually takes a large space on the counter
Activated carbonRemoves dissolved organics and chlorine effectively.Long life (high capacity).Can generate carbon fines.
UltrafiltersEffectively removes most of the particles, microorganisms, and colloids above their rated size of ultrafilters.Produces the highest quality water for the least amount of energy.Regenerable.Will not remove dissolved inorganics.
UV lightEffective sanitizing treatmentOxidation of organic compounds. Effectively DNA of microorganisms at the optimal wavelength of 254 nm to < 5 ppb TOCDecreases resistivity.Will not remove particles, colloids, or ions

Depending on the laboratory analysis and application of the lab water Purification system the level of purity required for the water is decided. Accordingly, the laboratory water purifier is selected.

4. Consistent Water Purity

The laboratory water purifier built with various methods of water purification filters produces the highest purified water. It is important to select the lab water purification system that comes with the features to monitor and ensure the high-quality purified water is produced consistently.

5. Capacity Of Water Purification System That Meets Your Demand

It is important to consider the requirement of the daily water volume. While purchasing the laboratory water purifier the capacity of the system, flexibility, and modularity of the purification system is to be considered to meet your demands effectively. 

6. Long-Term Needs

There are different needs for the water purification laboratory. Future needs may vary from the current need of application sensitivity, level of purity i.e, increased resistivity and lower TOC level, bacterial count, and endotoxins. Focusing on the future need, the grade of the water can be chosen. 

7. System Features

  • Easy to use and easy installation 
  • Online resistivity meter for continuous monitoring of the quality of purified water.
  • Periodical cleaning of the filter system with Automatic Flush Device (AFD)
  • An Integrated recirculation system reduces TOC to low levels (2-5 ppb) that ensures the consistent quality of water.
  • Dry run protection to protect the pump life when the inlet water is not available.
  • Flexible dispensing  with remote water dispenser at various angles and heights
  • Electrolytic auto sanitizer, to sanitize  upstream purifying filters periodically
  • High purity storage tank with a built-in UV, protective air filter, and high-grade tank material for the storage of sustained purified water.

8. Budgeting

Budget is another important thing that is to be taken into consideration at the point of purchase. Laboratory water purification system price involves not only the installation cost and also the accessories involved in the operation of the system. Maintenance that is to be done with the water purification system laboratory is also taken into consideration while budgeting.

Conclusion 

Different factors are to be taken into consideration to purchase a better water purification system laboratory. The cost of the water purification system increases with the level of purity of water. It involves a sequence of methods that is to be followed to purify water. Depending on the laboratory analysis and applications the purity of water is chosen. The method followed for purification which involves maintenance is also to be taken under consideration. 

Lab Q water provides you with the best laboratory water purification system according to your demands.


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