TYPES OF WATER USED IN PHARMACEUTICAL WATER SYSTEM

Water is one of the key ingredients that is used in a pharmaceutical water system and pharmaceutical engineering. Water is both used as a solvent for processing and as an ingredient for the formulation of pharmaceutical products. These pharmaceutical products are consumed by human beings and thus the water used for processing these products must match with the given industrial standards. 

Pure water is used for the formulation and processing of pharmaceutical products. To convert the normal water to the purest form, the water has to go through the purification process. There are different types of purification systems used in pharma industries such as distillation, reverse osmosis, filtration and ion exchange. Microbial contamination is another problem that is often faced during pharma manufacturing and proper cleaning methods have to be ensured to get rid of microbial contamination.

Let us discuss in detail the types of water that are used in the pharmaceutical industries.

Different grades of water are required in a pharmaceutical water system such as water for injection, drinking water, purified water and highly purified water. The type of water used depends on the pharmaceutical application and the nature of the pharmaceutical product. 

Drinking water generally comes from the public water supply. Water is extracted from different sources such as sea, lakes, wells and springs and later passed through water treatment systems such as desalinization, softening, particle reduction, etc. Purified water in the pharmaceutical industry is obtained from drinking water. The drinking water of portable water is passed through various types of purification systems such as electrode ionization, reverse osmosis and filtration. Highly purified water is standardized as per European standards, is free of pathogens, and prevents microbial recontamination. Water for injection is the cleanest form of water that is used in the pharmaceutical water system. It is producing using Multi-column decontamination process or vapor compression.