Veolia Water Technologies by GineersNow Engineering Magazine GineersNow Engineering Magazine September 2016 | Page 43

EXPLAINED: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
DISTILLED, MINERAL AND PURIFIED
WATER
There will always be that moment in
the grocery store where one stands
in front of the bottled water station
or shelf to choose which one to buy.
You are confronted with many types
of bottled water – distilled, mineral
and purified – and in different brands.
But what exactly is the difference
between the three?
Distilled Water
Water that is a product of distillation
is called distilled water, of course.
Essentially, the process of distillation
is just boiling pure water to remove
the contaminants or solid residues
like inorganic minerals, metals,
etc. Such contaminants have high
melting points and even higher
boiling points. The water, along with
its contaminants, is boiled and the
pure water turns into steam which
is captured and cooled to become
distilled water. What’s left after
boiling are the contaminants already
separated from the water.
Purified Water
As the name suggests, purified water
is the type of water that is in its
purest form. It is often confused with
distilled water but the truth is that
this water undergoes more processes
like deionization and reverse osmosis
to reduce impurities to extremely low
levels. The impurity load of dissolved
solids in purified water cannot exceed
10 parts per million.
from a mineral spring that contains
various minerals, such as salts and
sulfur compounds. It includes calcium,
magnesium, sodium, potassium,
chloride, sulphate, fluoride and nitrate
that are beneficial to health at certain
amounts. But the minerals can also
be added artificially. Mineral water
may be effervescent, or sparkling, due
to contained gases.
Which one would you grab the next
time you stand in front of the sea of
bottled water?
Mineral Water
This type of water also bears the clues
in its name. Mineral water is water
Photo by LiveStrong
SEPTEMBER 2016
Clean Water Technologies
43