Two Key Recommendations For Purifying Your Laboratory

Key Recommendations For Purifying Your Laboratory

To serve the above point, the following are the two main key recommendations for purifying laboratory water. The recommendation points should be maintained while choosing the right water purification system for the laboratory.  This would help you in the long run in the laboratory experiments and also yield you good results.

1.  Know Your Type Of Water For the experiment

In the experimental laboratory, the most important reagent is water, which is called a universal solvent. It dissolves every type of substance including from cell walls of bacterial cells to other related entities. Further, water is also helpful in making different solutions and standard solutions for any experiment. The very first point is to know the type of water you will need for your experiments. It is the step on which the whole of your water purification is dependent.

It is proved that tap water consists of many impurities like inorganic compounds, organic compounds, microorganisms, dissolved gases, metal ions, etc, which makes tap water unfit for the experiment. For smooth processing of your lab experiments, you should know the type of water you are going to use in it. This will help you get the right lab water purification system in your laboratory. You can also check any laboratory water purification system price to purify your lab water.

For example, in the HPLC experiment, the water should be strictly devoid of any kind of impurity to get processed further.  Here the lab water should be of Type I (Ultrapure Type ) to get good results. Hence, it is very important to know or identify the type of water you need for the experiment. 

The classification of lab water is as follows:

• Type I -  It is called Ultrapure water. The water is pure in all terms. It does contain extremely low levels of ions, other organic molecules, bacteria, and suspended particles. The amount of these entities are negligible.  It can be produced by technologies like Reverse osmosis, ion exchange, photo-oxidation, and activated carbon. It is used in analytical methods, as well as HPLC, ICP-MS, and various molecular biology experiments.
• Type II – It is also called pure or General Grade laboratory water. It may contain some small amount of impurities like organic molecules, microorganisms, etc (Up to 55ppb). The water is used in executing experiments by contributing towards buffer solutions, reagent preparation.
• Type III – It is called reverse osmosis water (RO Water).  The water is extensively used in the water purification system for laboratory use based on RO technology. Its main applications are Qualitative analyses, glassware cleaning, water baths, etc.
• Type IV – It is also called distilled water. The water can be obtained from the water distillation unit for the laboratory in less time. Its main work is rinsing the test tubes and cleaning other surgical as well as medical devices.

Based on the above points, you can easily identify your type of water and can proceed further with your experiments. However, some experiments do use multiple water types as per the requirements of the laboratory experiments. Before installing a laboratory water purifier, do consider this key recommendation point.

2.  Know Your Water Purifier Technology As Per Your Needs

After knowing the various water types for the laboratory, you need to know about the type of water purifier you want. In the market, there are many options in water purification systems for laboratories. But you need to focus on your requirements of the experiment before installing any water system. Water purification technologies are the important component of any lab water purification system that should align with your experiment processes. Further, to cut down the costs a little, you can go for the pre-treatment of water.

Importance Of Pre-treatment Of WaterIn some instances, when you use the water purification systems for the laboratory more and don’t maintain the system. The resin beds become incapable of purifying your lab water and thus, results in poor pure water.  These exhausted resins become conducive for bacterial growth that is not good for the experimental results. To avoid such conditions, you can pre-treat the water.

The pretreatment of water consists of a combination of purification technologies like ion exchange, activated carbon, electrodeionization, and reverse osmosis.  The pretreatment of water is the key to get purer water at the least cost. The technique not only gives pure water for lab experiments but also saves your machine and costs for maintaining it. Further, it also helps in the optimization process in different purification steps after the pretreatment process.

After the pretreatment of water, you need to go through the technology of your lab water system. In addition to purified water, you can also go for minimal storage time to use up the freshly purified water. Again, the technologies of water purification play a major role in this.

Water purification technologies are as follows:

• Reverse Osmosis method (RO) – This technology uses a semi-permeable membrane for water purification. The removal of impurities is done by this membrane.  Up to 95% of contaminants are eliminated by this method.  RO water is the end product of this water purification technology. However, the dissolved gases are not removed.
• Electrodeionization method – This method is the combination of reverse osmosis and ion exchange methods. The method can be used to get rid of the contaminants easily by its dual nature of water purification.
• Ion-exchange Method – This method includes cylinders containing highly porous beads which help in the purification of the water in a laboratory. The cylinders need regular replacement to purify water in the lab water purification system. It purifies the water, but some bacteria can persist in the purified water.
• Filtration – This method is used in the pre-treatment of water filters. It removes colloids, particulate matter, and bacteria from the lab water.  Further, it can also remove endotoxins, organics, and nucleases from the water.
• Distillation – This method removes impurities from the water which cannot be evaporated. Distilled water can be obtained from the water distillation unit for the laboratory.
• Ultraviolet radiation- This method is used mostly in water purification systems for laboratories to produce Ultrapure water. The UV rays are used to purify the lab water for experiments. 
• Degassing – This method uses a hydrophobic membrane and a flush gas which removes dissolved gases such as Carbon dioxide and Oxygen.  Some laboratory purifiers use the method for eliminating the dissolved gases.
• Vent filtration – These vent filters are fitted in the reservoirs of the water purification system to prevent impurities from entering stored purified water.

After going through all the technologies of a water purification system for the laboratory, go forward with your lab experiments. Depending on your needs, you can approach a suitable water purification system.

Conclusion

The key recommendations for water purification are a mandatory element. With the above key recommendations, you can approach a good and suitable lab water system.  The experiments can also be processed smoothly with the implementation of these key recommendations for water purification in the laboratory.