Enviro-Test Laboratories
A division of ETL Chemspec
Anylitical Ltd.
An
Evaluation Of Precision Water Distillers Precision Pure
Model:
Pws 12-12 Distiller
For
Removing Toxic Industrial
And
Agricultural Contaminants
Testing
Date June 19th,2000
Note:
The Sensitivity of testing equiptment has improved over the years.
Make sure you find out the date the test was done, of any test you might
compare this to. Something that might show up as undetectable in tests
done 10 years ago, is now able to be detected with more sensitive equiptment. |
| BEWARE of 'doctored' test results. We have hard copy
results available directly from the test labs to verify these water distiller
claims. We know of claims being made on web sites that are 100% false.
Also some web sites post certifications for their water distiller, which
they don't have. Call us, we can supply you with proof about
false claims others make before you get burnt. |
|
INTRODUCTION:
This study was undertaken to evaluate
the effectiveness with which Precision Water Systems – Precision Pure Model:
PWS 12-12 water distiller distillation system removes harmful contaminants
from water.
The contaminants used in this study
were selected to be representative of human pathogens found in natural
waters and industrial chemicals, including pesticides.
Pathogens were Giardia lambia, Cryptosporidia,
and coliform bacteria (fecal and total).
Chemical classes represented include:
pesticides, phenolic industrial pollutants, volatile industrial pollutants,
semi-volatile base/neutral industrial pollutants, trace elements, major
ions and nutrients, radio nucleotides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). |
|
METHODS:
The PrecisionPure Model: PWS 12-12
water distiller unit was chosen for this evaluation.
This unit has the highest rate of
distillation and therefore represents the worst case scenario for removal
of contaminants.
Other Precision Water System distillers
should perform as well as or better than the PWS 12-12 Water
Distiller. (Note: Some
companies mislead people by not even telling what model water distiller
was tested)
|
|
RESULTS:
Table 1. Removal efficiencies and concentrations
of pathogens in raw and finished waters.
| Pathogen |
Conc. |
Raw Water |
Finished Water |
Removal |
|
Units |
|
|
Efficiency(%) |
| Cryptosporidia |
(cysts/10L) |
3000 |
<1
|
>99.97
|
| Giardia lambia |
(cysts/10L) |
3000 |
<1 |
>99.97 |
| Total Coliforms |
(cfu/100 mL) |
>1000 |
<1 |
>99.99 |
| Fecal Coliforms |
(cfu/100 mL) |
>1000 |
<1 |
>99.99 |
The Precision Water Systems water
distiller was very effective in the removal of the pathogens tested.
No pathogens were detected in the
distilled water. Table 1 summarized these results, listing the concentrations
in the initial raw water, in the finished water and removal efficiencies. |
|
TABLE 2 Removal efficiencies
and concentrats of trace elements in raw and finished waters.
| Trace Element |
Raw Water
(mg/L)
|
Finished Water |
Removal
Efficiency (%) |
| Arsenic |
0.06 |
<0.0004 |
>99 |
| Barium |
.28 |
0.0005 |
>99 |
| Boron |
.52 |
<0.002 |
>99 |
| Cadmium |
0.05 |
<0.0002 |
>99 |
| Cobalt |
0.06 |
<0.0002 |
>99 |
| Iron |
2.83 |
<0.02 |
>99 |
| Lead |
0.07 |
.0003 |
>99 |
| Mercury |
0.05 |
0.00023 |
>99 |
| Nickel |
0.15 |
<0.0015 |
>99 |
| Selenium |
.06 |
<0.0004 |
>99 |
| Vanadium |
0.06 |
<0.0002 |
>99 |
Removal efficiencies and of trace
metals and the radioactive nucleotide are summarized in Tables 2 and 3.
Table 2 shows the results for trace
metals and Table 3 shows the results for the radioactive nucleotide, Radium
226.
Of particular note in these results
are the removal efficiencies of the toxic heavy metals, lead, cadmium and
mercury, of the radioactive nucleotide and of arsenic. Arsenic, cadmium
and radium 226 were not detected in the finished water.
(other
distillers remove a couple percentages less lead from our observations)
|
Table 3 Removal
efficiencies and concentrations (measured as radioactivity) of radio nucleotides
in raw and finished waters.
TABLE 3
|
Radio Nucleotide
|
Raw Water
(Bq/L)
|
Finished Water
|
Removal
Efficiency (%)
|
|
226Radium
|
3.40
|
<0.005
|
>99
|
|
Table 4 Removal
efficiencies and concentrations of nutrients and common anions in raw and
finished waters.
TABLE 4
| Anions and Nutrients |
Raw Water
(mg/L) |
Finished Water |
Removal
Efficiency (%) |
| Chloride |
11.0 |
0.110 |
99 |
| Nitrate (as Nigrogen) |
6.40 |
0.060 |
>99 |
| Ammonia (as Nitrogen) |
1.00 |
<0.005 |
>99 |
The
water distiller effectively removed 99% or more of the chloride, nitrate
and ammonia in the raw water.
No
fluoride and phosphate were detected in the finished water but high detection
limits for these parameters only limit the demonstration of removal efficiencies
greater than 90% in this study. It should be possible to achieve demonstrated
removal efficiencies of greater than 99% with lower detection limits. |
Table 5 summarizes
the results achieved for a selection of herbicides and insecticides. This
study focused on the herbicides commonly used in Western Canada. Removal
efficiencies of 99% or more were achieved for all but one of the compounds
tested. The removal efficiency for Trifluralin was 98%.
TABLE 5
Removal Efficiency for Insecticides and Herbicides
| Analyte |
Raw Water
(Mg/L) |
Finished Water |
Removal
Efficiency (%) |
| Trifluralin |
0.29 |
0.006 |
>98 |
| MCPA |
.50 |
0.0002 |
>99 |
| y-BHC (Lindane) |
0.59 |
0.0023 |
>99 |
| Dicamba |
0.063 |
0.0001 |
>99 |
| 2,4-D |
0.48 |
<0.0001 |
>99 |
| Bromoxynil |
0.38 |
0.0006 |
>99 |
| Triallatel |
0.47 |
0.005 |
99 |
|
| The
Precision Water Systems – Precision Pure Model: PWS 12-12 water distillation
system was also evaluated with compounds selected from priority pollutant
lists of the US-EPA and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. These
are toxic compounds associated with industrial activities. They are divided
into three broad classes: |
| Volatile
Priority Pollutants:
These
are toxic compounds which readily evaporate and include most common solvents.
Most are chlorinated and/or aromatic in nature. This class of chemical
are an excellent test of the water distillation system because of the inherent
difficulty of removing these chemicals from water by distillation.
|
| The
results obtained are summarized in Table 6. The water distiller effectively
removed all of the volatile chemicals tested. Only chloroethane, the most
volatile of the chemicals tested was removed with less than 99% efficiency. |
TABLE 6
Removal Efficiency for Insecticides and Herbicides
|
Volatile Priority Pollutant
|
Raw Water
|
Finished Water
|
Removal
Efficiency (%)
|
|
Benzene
|
1.12
|
<0.01
|
>99
|
|
Bromoform
|
1.50
|
0.005
|
>99
|
|
Carbon tetrachloride
|
0.64
|
0.001
|
>99
|
|
Chlorobenzene
|
0.44
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
Chloroform
|
0.75
|
<0.005
|
>99
|
|
Chloromethane
|
0.66
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
1,3-Dichlorobenzene
|
0.68
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
1,1-Dichlorethane
|
0.54
|
0.004
|
>99
|
|
1,2-Dichloethane
|
0.66
|
0.01
|
99
|
|
trans-1,2-Dichloroethene
|
0.48
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane
|
1.70
|
<0.020
|
>99
|
|
Tetrachloroethene
|
0.70
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
Toluene
|
3.95
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
Trichloroethene
|
0.91
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
p-Xylene
|
0.35
|
<0.001
|
>99
|
|
MTBE
|
0.86
|
0.0023
|
>99
|
|
| Phenolic
Priority Pollutants:
These are toxic
organic chemicals that include the phenol functional group. They are more
soluble than other organic compounds and distribute quickly in aqueous
systems. The results obtained for these compounds are summarized in Table
7.
Of the chemicals
tested, only2-chlorophenol and 3-chlorophenol were found in the finished
water, and at very low, trace concentrations. None of the more toxic,
polychlorinated phenols were deteected in the finished water from the water
distiller.
TABLE 7
Removal
efficiencies and concentration of phenolic priority pollutants in raw and
finished waters
| Phenolic Priority Pollutant |
Raw Water |
Finished Water |
Removal
Efficiency(%) |
| 4-Chloro-3-methylpheno |
0.48 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| 2-Chlorophenol |
1.10 |
0.002 |
>99 |
| 3-Chorophenol |
0.92 |
0.001 |
>99 |
| 2,4-Dichlorophenol |
0.66 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| 2-Nitrophenol |
0.57 |
<0.002 |
>99 |
| Pentachlorophenol |
0.37 |
<0.005 |
>99 |
| Phenol |
0.23 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol |
0.35 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
|
|
| Base/Neutral
Priority Pollutants
These
are less volatile, less soluble toxic compounds associated with industrial
wastes. They are more stable and persistent than the other priority pollutants
discussed above. The results achieved with a selection of these chemicals
are summarized in Table 8. Removal of these compound with the water distillation
system was very effective.
TABLE 8
Removal
efficiencies and concentrations of base/neutral priority pollutants in
raw and finished waters.
Base/Neutral
Priority Pollutant |
Raw Water
Conc. (mg/L) |
Finished Water
Conc. (mg/L) |
Removal
Efficiency (%) |
| bis(2-Chloroethyl) ether |
0.55 |
0.001 |
>99 |
| bis(2-Chloroethoxy) methane |
0.86 |
0.002 |
>99 |
| 2,6-Dinitrotoluene |
0.84 |
<0.002 |
>99 |
| Fluoranthene |
0.45 |
0.002 |
>99 |
| Hexachloroethane |
0.39 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| Isophorone |
0.85 |
0.002 |
>99 |
| Nitrobenzene |
0.73 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| N-nitrosodiphenylamine |
0.28 |
<0.003 |
>99 |
| Phenanthrene |
0l.70 |
0.001 |
>99 |
| Biphenyl |
0.82 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
| 1-Methylnaphthalene |
0.43 |
<0.001 |
>99 |
|
CONCLUSION:
The study shows that the Precision
water Systems Precision Pure Model: PWS 12-12 water distillation distiller
unit is a very effective water treatment system capable of removing both
harmful pathogens and toxic chemicals from water. In this study all pathogens
tested were eliminated. None were found in the finished water. The water
distillation system also effectively removed all of the soluble inorganic
and organic chemicals tested. Removal efficiencies of 99% or greater were
achieved for almost all of chemicals tested.
Report
#L7512i
Environmental Toxicologist
Enviro-Test Laboratories
Edmonton, Alberta
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