Difference Between Reverse Osmosis & Distilled

Reverse osmosis and distillation are two different ways of purifying your water. They are both methods that require a mechanical set-up that is relatively easy to provide.

Reverse Osmosis Benefits

Reverse osmosis, a type of de-ionization, will remove all metal ions from the water, clearing it of any harmful minerals that you do not wish to ingest. This is done by straining water through a membranous filter.

Reverse Osmosis Drawbacks

Reverse osmosis, unfortunately, does not deal with organic matter that is present in the water. In addition, it removes any metallic elements that you may have wished to keep for health purposes.

Distillation Benefits

Distillation is the best technique to acquire absolutely pure water. Distillation boils water to turn it into steam, and then condenses the steam to regain the pure water volume. All foreign elements are removed from the liquid.

Distillation Drawbacks

Unfortunately, distillation is highly energy intensive, due to the energy required to boil the water. In addition, much like de-ionization, it may remove wanted ions and materials.

When to Purify Water

Purifying water is important in cases of acquired freshwater that you do not know is clean, recycling used water or waste water, or in certain scientific experiments where you need pure H2O instead of an ingestible hydrating liquid.

References

• "Water Quality Systems, Second Edition"; Robert Reed (2003)