Applications and Processes of Laboratory Ultrapure Water

With the advancement of science and technology, people's understanding of various things in nature is developing towards a microscopic and essential direction. Many experiments and tests require impurities in reagents or culture environments to reach ppb level, and some even reach ppt level. For example, in life science research, there is great sensitivity to various pollutants in water, especially heavy metals and soluble organic matter.

Main Uses of Pure Water:

● Final cleaning of laboratory glassware

● Water for preparing buffer solutions and chemical reagents

● Water for preparing microbial culture media

● Pure water for hydrogen generators, indoor humidifiers, and autoclaves

● Drinking water for humans or laboratory animals, etc.

Main Uses of Ultrapure Water:

● Water for animal and plant cell culture

● Water for various medical biochemical analyzers, analytical instruments, and hemodialysis machines

● Water for preparing and diluting analytical reagents and drugs

● Water for physiological, pathological, and toxicological experiments

● Purified and high-purity water for hospitals, pharmaceutical preparation rooms, and central laboratories

● Water for atomic absorption spectrometry

● Water for in vitro fertilization

● Water for various high-performance liquid chromatography and ion chromatography

● Other various laboratory and pharmaceutical water uses.

Main Processes of Ultrapure Water Purification

Common impurities in natural water include soluble inorganic matter, organic matter, particulate matter, microorganisms, and soluble gases. Ultrapure water systems aim to remove these impurities as thoroughly as possible.

Currently, commonly used water purification methods include distillation, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, filtration, adsorption, and ultraviolet oxidation. Ultrapure water systems generally divide the water purification process into four main steps: pretreatment (basic purification), reverse osmosis (producing pure water), ion exchange (producing 18.2 MΩ·cm ultrapure water), and final treatment (producing ultrapure water that meets specific requirements).