Water Purification Systems In The Research Lab | SMACgig WORLD

Water is the most common and important reagent in research laboratories. Without the usage of pure water, only a handful of experiments can be done. More or less, every type of lab work needs water for its execution. And the pure water is obtained from a lab water purification system, which is installed in a lab. Water purification is also an important part of any research lab. It helps to obtain the right purity of lab water which helps in the various lab experiments. Every research lab has its laboratory water purifier with the respective technology and principles.

As a lab researcher, you can also set up a good water purification system for laboratory and obtain pure water. However, some water purification strategies help in gaining enough water supply for the experiments concluded in a research lab. A research lab fellow can devise the strategies and set a good purification system.

There is no doubt that purified water has its importance in a research lab. It has many uses ranging from simple experiments to complex ones. In different experiments,  the different types of pure water(Type I, Type II, Type III, Type IV) are used. These types of pure water have their respective purposes in a research lab.   For example, ultrapure water is used for the lab applications like HPLC and other complex experiments. While type II pure water is used for the preparation of buffers and other general lab applications. These lab water types are purified in a water purification system for laboratory use. The real purity is set in the lab water system and then used in various research works.

To obtain the required pure water for the research work, you need a perfect water purification strategy/system. The strategy can enhance your water purification rate and supply enough pure water. Let’s look into some of the strategies of water purification in the research laboratory.

Water Purification Systems For The Research Lab

1. Elimination Of Contaminants

To get the required purity of pure water in the lab, a water purification system for laboratory is required. The water systems set in a lab have good water purification technology that removes all kinds of contaminants. Generally, the normal water which is fed into the lab water purification system has many impurities in the form of organic compounds, inorganic ions, bacterial cells, colloids, pyrogens, etc. All these are removed by the laboratory water purifier.

To obtain the right purity of pure water, the elimination of contaminants is important. The elimination is done by any of the following water purification technologies:

2. Activated Carbon Technology

This technology is also useful in the pre-treatment of the lab water system’s cartridges and vent filters. The carbon here is of activated state, which has tiny pores ranging from 500 to 1000nm with a surface area of about 1000m²/g.  These pores have nature to only allow the adsorption of organic impurities in the water. It also adsorbs the chlorines and chloramines from the water to produce pure water. Activated carbon technology is the common technology that is well fitted in the water system.

3. Microporous Depth Filter Method

This filter has an entrapment barrier that restricts the entry of large particles. These large particles may be colloids and other suspended particles. All such large impurities get adsorbed into the barrier which is associated with the activated carbon technology. This process is called microfiltration.  Microporous filters help in protecting the lab water system from the damage of impurities. In addition to the removal of large particles, it also prevents fouling and blockage.

4. Reverse Osmosis Membrane Method

The third line of contaminant removal is the reverse osmosis membrane. These membranes contain extremely minute pores less than 1nm in diameter. The pores do not allow the impurities to pass through it. Thus, allowing only the purified water to pass through in the laboratory water purifier. Nearly all types of impurities are removed in this method, resulting in pure permeate water. 

5. Ion-Exchange Resins Method

The resins are used in the final treatment of water to produce pure water. Many water purification systems use this method to purify water.  A lab water system of a research lab has resins that deionize the water. As a result of the exchange, the charged impurity gets retained on the resin surface. Thus, it removes the contaminants. Ion -exchange resin method can purify the water and give out the resistivity of up to 18.2 M-Ohm -cm which is called ultrapure water.

6. Ultraviolet Light Method

UV light is used for photoxidizing the organic impurities present in the water. In simple words, ultraviolet light inactivates the impurities which are removed by the filters of the lab water system. Ion-exchange methods can also be used here. The UV lamps appear as loops in the laboratory water purifier which further removes the impurities from the normal water. The total organic content is also reduced by this process of removal of impurities.

7. Using Integrating Purification Systems

In a research lab, you can use any type of lab water purification system. But for effective water purification, you can also set two or more water purification technologies. In point-of-use filters, the source of purified water is only one. However,  the purified water from such filters may be distributed to more than one outlet.  But you can also strategize more water purification through integrating purification systems in one single unit.

By installing an integrated system,  you can get the total system approach for water purification. In this system, the above technologies like reverse osmosis, ion exchange, UV radiation are combined into a single unit. This system has the major advantage in that purified water has low levels of bacteria, endotoxins and also can be filtered out for the recycling process.

The purpose of integrated water purification systems is to supply enough pure water to the research lab. The type of application of such a system depends upon the lab work and its various parameters of filtration. This system can also have a pre-treatment apparatus and polishing system for the purification of water. The UV-light method can be also used in this system for the effective purification of water.

8. Polishing Of Final Product: Pure Water

The final step in the water purification process is to ensure the purity of the water. In the research lab, you have to obtain pure water of good purity to execute all research experiments. This is achieved by enabling loops of filters for the polishing process. The integrated water systems also have these loops that make the purified water more reliable for the research work. These loops are present in semi-circle shapes, hence the name of loops. The polishing loops are also available in the market as an independent entity, so you can always approach them.

Conclusion

The laboratory water purifier is a very integral part of research work. With the help of such systems, you can obtain pure water for your lab experiments.  The above-mentioned strategies can be implemented to get enough pure water supply in the lab.  The laboratory water purifiers come in various technologies which are effective in producing pure water. However, you can anytime go through the water purification system for laboratory prices in online and offline mediums.