Difference between distilled and demineralized water?
You’ve probably wondered about this when you buy one or the other, and seeing that there are other types of water.
You’ll now get the answer about the exact differences between demineralized and distilled water.
As a whole, distilled and demineralized water are produced with a different process. Distilled water is pure water obtained by distillation (remove some specific minerals only) while demineralized water is purified (all ions are removed).
This introduction is a bit technical, and may not answer your questions.
Don’t worry, I will answer you in detail in this article, specifically with their usages and their manufacture process, you will know everything!
Distilled water
Definition
Let’s start with a dictionary definition to discover the basics:
Water that has been freed of dissolved or suspended solids and from organisms by distillation
Merriam-Webster
Distilled water is a transformation of potable water, by vaporization system or distillation (we will see this just after)
The basic idea is to remove minerals and organisms so the water contains only pure water (H2O) and gases such as O2 and CO2
Manufacture
Distilled water, as the name suggests, is the result of distillation
A distillation principle is to boil the water and recover the vapors
You may have already done this experiment in chemistry class, otherwise here is an express catch-up course:
Water is put in the left ball (n ° 15)
At boiling, the water vapor escapes while rising in the tube 3
Then is sucked into the tube 5, which by cooling the steam transforms it again into distilled water, recovered in the right balloon (No. 8)
Micro-organisms, nonvolatile, can not arrive until there and remain stuck on the left part
Obviously this is the basic principle that you see in chemistry, but there are gigantic industrial systems to make the distilled water you find commercially
Usage
Let’s move now to what interests you most probably, in which case you may use distilled water
Here are some examples:
- Medical field: distilled water can be used in hospitals or clinics to prevent the spread of bacteria
- Ironing: it’s a good idea to use distilled water in your steam plant, to avoid scale buildup and increase its lifetime
- Watering: the distilled water is close to the rainwater, your plants will thank you ????
- Drinking: distilled water can be consumed by humans or babies. However, take advice before choosing a water type, I’m not a doctor, but I read that all were not good for consumption
- Perfect ice cubes: it seems that ice cubes made from distilled water are transparent, you can test it to impress your friends ????
There are many other areas where distilled water can be useful but now you have a general idea of the possibilities
Buying guide
You can find distilled water almost anywhere
The choice will more depend on what you want to do with
If you want to fill your iron or for any other domestic usage, you can find the best prices online (for example, Amazon has many formats available)
If you want it to be consumed, I advise you to look in supermarkets or even in pharmacies. The price will not be the same, but it’s better to be sure of the quality (especially for babies)
Format is usually closer to any water bottle (like this one on Amazon for example)
Demineralized water
Let’s move now to the demineralized water explanations
Definition
Hum, I didn’t found any short and clear definition of demineralized water. It’s often mixed with other water types, not very helpful
So I’ll explain this to you
To tell you a little more, demineralized water is also called deionized water, i.e. water to which we have removed all electrically charged elements (ions).
It is therefore a purified water
Manufacture
The manufacturing process is too much complicated for novices, and I’m not sure that you’re here to read how to make chemical equations, given the necessary equipment
But to summarize, water is passed through various ion exchange systems, in order to remove electrically charged particles and obtain deionized water
Usage
Demineralized water is used in industrial to protect machinery, but you can also use it at home
Here are some examples of uses:
- Machines to cut metals
- Fire extinguishers
- Cars washing (not everywhere, but it avoids traces)
- Pharmaceutical or cosmetic uses
- At home: Aquariums or ironing for example
This list is not exhaustive but you get the idea
Buying guide
There are different sales formats, in small quantities for limited and occasional use, in bottles or cans
For home use, I advise you to go directly on a 5L can (1 gallon or more), you’ll get your water for a while and do a small economy simultaneously
Demineralized water can be found almost everywhere, including online for the best prices, for example this one gallon can on Amazon is very accessible
There are also scented waters if you like, like this product with citrus for your iron (test it and let me know!)
Differences between distilled and demineralized water
Composition
The demineralized water composition and distilled water are different
Distilled water is pure water, from which all the minerals and bacteria have been removed
The demineralized water is purified, that is to say that certain mineral salts are removed, but not all
Manufacture
The manufacture of both waters is also completely different
For distilled water boiling water is used, and only water vapor is recovered, in order to re-condense it in distilled water.
For demineralized water, the water is simply passed through a circuit removing all charged elements (ions)
Price
Distilled water is the most complicated to produce, so it is much more expensive to buy.
I do not have enough data to do a precise study, but it seems to be at least twice as expensive as demineralized water
Usage
There are common points about the possible use
For example both can be used in an iron (just like conventional drinking water)
Distilled water will be even more effective than demineralized water, but it will be much more expensive
For an iron you can afford to buy distilled water, but for industrial use (washing cars, machines, …) the costs are often too high, and demineralized water will be preferred
Finally, we have seen that some waters can be drank directly.
In this case I recommend you to seek advice in pharmacy, in order to make the right choice and get a precise answer to your questions
Related questions
What is the difference with reverse osmosis water? Reverse osmosis water is very close to distilled water. It’s a distilled water produced without distillation. Use the information on the bottle to make sure it matches the intended use, but it should be very close to distilled water, and less expensive.
Conclusion
That’s it, you now know everything about the difference between the two names: distilled water and demineralized water
You know which one is used for each type of usage, how they produced it and how much does it cost
