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Degassing Systems for Industrial Water Treatment: What They Do and When You Need One

If your facility runs a reverse osmosis system, a boiler feed line, or any process that depends on consistent water chemistry, dissolved gases are a problem you may already have without knowing it. A degassing system for industrial water treatment removes gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and oxygen from process water before they cause corrosion, scaling, membrane fouling, or product contamination. Understanding when your application requires one can prevent significant equipment damage and operational downtime.

What a Degassing System Does

Dissolved gases enter water from multiple sources, including:

  • Source water containing naturally occurring dissolved gases
  • Atmospheric exposure
  • Biological activity
  • Chemical reactions within the treatment process

Once in the water, these gases create problems that standard filtration and RO membranes cannot fully resolve on their own.

A degassing system removes dissolved gases by exposing water to a low-pressure environment, a stripping gas, or a membrane degassing module that allows gas molecules to pass through while retaining the liquid. The result is water with dramatically reduced dissolved gas concentrations, which protects downstream equipment and improves process stability.

The two most common gases targeted in industrial water treatment are carbon dioxide and oxygen. However, hydrogen sulfide removal is also a critical application in oil and gas, groundwater treatment, and certain municipal systems.

Learn more about how industrial water degassing systems work and their applications.

Why Dissolved Gases Cause Problems in Industrial Systems

Carbon Dioxide and Carbonate Scaling

Carbon dioxide dissolved in water lowers pH and affects carbonate chemistry, which can contribute to calcium carbonate scaling under certain treatment conditions. In RO systems, carbonate scaling is one of the leading causes of membrane fouling and premature membrane replacement. Removing CO2 at an appropriate stage in the treatment process can help stabilize pH and manage downstream scaling potential.

In addition, high CO2 levels reduce the efficiency of downstream ion exchange and EDI systems by increasing the ionic load associated with dissolved carbon dioxide. A degassing step placed between the RO unit and the EDI system can reduce this load and improve overall system performance.

Learn more about water degasification and reverse osmosis.

Oxygen and Corrosion

Dissolved oxygen is a major driver of corrosion in boiler feed water systems, cooling water loops, and metal pipework. Even small concentrations at the parts-per-billion level can cause accelerated oxidation in high-temperature, high-pressure environments.

Power plants, steam generators, and industrial boilers require deaerated feed water to protect heat exchange surfaces and pressure vessels. Mechanical deaeration and membrane degassing are both established methods for achieving the low dissolved oxygen levels these systems demand.

Hydrogen Sulfide and Process Contamination

Hydrogen sulfide produces the characteristic rotten egg odor associated with groundwater sources and certain industrial wastewater streams. Beyond odor, H2S is corrosive to copper alloys and can interfere with processes in food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and electronics manufacturing.

Degassing systems designed specifically for H2S removal use forced draft or vacuum stripping to drive the gas out of solution before it reaches sensitive process equipment or product contact surfaces.

Applications That Commonly Require Degassing

Industrial facilities that most frequently need dedicated degassing systems include:

  • Boiler Feed Water Systems: Dissolved oxygen must be reduced to prevent corrosion in pressure vessels and heat exchangers.
  • Reverse Osmosis Pretreatment or Post-Treatment: CO2 removal helps stabilize pH and protects EDI and ion exchange polishing stages.
  • Pharmaceutical and Laboratory Water Systems: Dissolved gases can interfere with analytical accuracy or sensitive manufacturing processes.
  • Food and Beverage Production: Dissolved oxygen accelerates oxidation and can affect product shelf life and flavor.
  • Groundwater Treatment: Naturally occurring H2S or CO2 may require removal before water enters the main treatment train.
  • Cooling Tower Makeup Water: Gas removal can help reduce corrosion risks in recirculating systems.

Explore ADVANCEES pre-treatment and post-treatment systems for industrial water applications.

How to Determine If Your Facility Needs a Degassing System

The decision to add a degassing system typically comes from one of three situations:

  • Corrosion or Scaling: Visible deterioration or mineral buildup in downstream equipment.
  • pH Instability: Inconsistent treated water pH despite chemical dosing or other treatment adjustments.
  • Water Quality Requirements: Industrial processes that specify maximum dissolved gas concentrations.

If your RO membranes are fouling faster than expected, if your boiler feed water is failing conductivity or oxygen targets, or if your treated water pH is inconsistent despite chemical dosing, dissolved gases may be contributing to the problem.

A proper system assessment starts with water quality testing for CO2, dissolved oxygen, and H2S, followed by a review of your downstream process requirements.

The appropriate degassing configuration depends on several factors:

  • Types and concentrations of dissolved gases present
  • Required outlet gas concentrations
  • Water flow rate and daily treatment capacity
  • Downstream equipment and water quality requirements
  • Selection of membrane contactors, packed tower strippers, or vacuum degassers

Contact ADVANCEES today to evaluate whether a degassing system belongs in your water treatment process. Our RO plant design and consultancy services can help determine the appropriate treatment configuration for your facility.

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Ion Exchange vs Reverse Osmosis: Which Water Treatment Technology Is Right for Your Application?

When evaluating ion exchange water treatment against reverse osmosis, industrial buyers face a decision that directly affects operating costs, water quality, and long-term system reliability. Both technologies remove dissolved contaminants from water. However, they work differently, suit different applications, and carry different cost profiles over time. Understanding the distinction helps you choose the right system for your facility.

How Ion Exchange Water Treatment Works

Ion exchange is a chemical process that removes dissolved ions from water by swapping them with ions held on a resin bed. As water passes through the resin, unwanted ions such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and heavy metals attach to the resin while acceptable ions release into the water stream.

Over time, the resin becomes saturated and requires regeneration using either acid or caustic chemicals, depending on whether the resin targets positively or negatively charged ions. Ion exchange systems can achieve very high purity levels, particularly for specific target contaminants, but the regeneration process adds chemical handling, waste disposal, and operational complexity.

Ion exchange is widely used for water softening, selective heavy metal removal, and as a final polishing step in ultrapure water production. Learn more about ADVANCEES ion exchange water treatment solutions.

How Reverse Osmosis Works

Reverse osmosis forces water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure. The membrane rejects dissolved solids, ions, bacteria, and organic compounds, producing purified permeate and a concentrated brine stream as a byproduct.

RO systems address a broad range of contaminants simultaneously. A single RO pass typically removes 95 to 99 percent of dissolved solids, making it one of the most efficient and versatile treatment technologies available for industrial applications.

Unlike ion exchange, reverse osmosis does not require chemical regeneration. The primary inputs are energy for pressure and periodic membrane cleaning. For high-volume industrial operations, this significantly reduces ongoing operating costs and chemical management requirements.

Explore ADVANCEES brackish water reverse osmosis systems for commercial and industrial applications.

Ion Exchange vs. Reverse Osmosis: Key Differences

Although both technologies are effective for industrial water treatment, several important differences influence which solution is best suited for a facility.

Contaminant Range

Reverse osmosis addresses a wider range of contaminants in a single pass. Ion exchange is highly effective for specific ions but generally does not remove non-ionic contaminants such as organics, bacteria, or silica in the same way RO does.

For facilities dealing with high TDS water, brackish water, or broad-spectrum contamination, RO provides more comprehensive treatment with less process complexity.

Operating Costs

Ion exchange systems have lower capital costs at smaller scales. However, ongoing costs for resin regeneration chemicals, waste neutralization, and labor add up significantly over time. For high-volume applications, these costs can exceed the operational savings from lower initial investment.

RO systems carry higher upfront equipment costs but lower ongoing chemical costs. At industrial scale, the total cost of ownership over a 5 to 10 year horizon typically favors reverse osmosis for continuous, high-volume treatment.

Water Quality Targets

Both technologies can achieve high purity levels. However, when ultra-low conductivity water is required, such as for pharmaceutical manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication, or high-pressure boiler feed, the most effective approach combines RO with electrodeionization (EDI).

EDI replaces the chemical regeneration step of traditional ion exchange with a continuous electrochemical process. The result is consistent ultrapure water output without the chemical handling and waste disposal of conventional ion exchange systems.

Learn more about ADVANCEES electrodeionization systems for high-purity industrial water applications.

Footprint and Scalability

RO systems scale efficiently for larger flow rates. Ion exchange systems become increasingly complex and costly to scale, as larger resin volumes require proportionally more chemical regeneration capacity and more frequent service cycles.

For facilities planning future expansion, RO-based systems offer a more straightforward path to increased capacity.

Which Technology Is Right for Your Application?

Ion exchange remains a strong choice for targeted applications, small-scale softening, and as a final polishing stage in a broader treatment train. It is not well-suited as a standalone solution for high-volume industrial water treatment with broad contamination.

Reverse osmosis is the preferred choice for:

  • High TDS or brackish source water
  • Continuous, high-volume production environments
  • Applications requiring broad-spectrum contaminant removal
  • Facilities seeking to minimize chemical handling and waste
  • Systems where RO plus EDI achieves ultrapure water targets

In many industrial facilities, the most effective answer is not one technology or the other. It is a properly engineered combination of both, with RO handling the bulk of treatment and ion exchange or EDI handling final polishing.

Contact ADVANCEES today to discuss which water treatment configuration is right for your application and flow requirements. Our RO plant design and consultancy services can help you identify the appropriate treatment technologies for your facility.

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Water Treatment in the Pharmaceutical Industry: What USP Standards Actually Require

Water is the most widely used raw material in pharmaceutical manufacturing. It appears as a direct ingredient in liquid formulations, as a cleaning medium for equipment and containers, as a solvent in synthesis and purification processes, and as a utility fluid in heating, cooling, and humidification systems. In no other manufacturing sector does water quality carry the same direct regulatory consequence as it does in pharmaceutical production. Getting it wrong does not simply affect product quality. It creates a compliance failure that can trigger FDA warning letters, product recalls, batch rejections, and facility shutdowns.

For pharmaceutical manufacturers, quality managers, and capital equipment planners making water system decisions in Q4 budget season, understanding what USP water quality standards actually require, and which treatment technologies reliably meet those requirements, is the starting point for every system specification and capital investment conversation.

What USP Water Standards Are and Why They Matter

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes the official quality standards for pharmaceutical ingredients, dosage forms, and related materials used in the United States. For water, USP defines multiple monograph grades, each with specific conductivity, total organic carbon (TOC), microbial, and endotoxin limits that must be met consistently and demonstrated through validated testing.

USP water monographs are not voluntary guidelines. For any pharmaceutical manufacturer producing products for the US market, USP water quality standards are regulatory requirements enforced by the FDA. A water system that fails to consistently produce water within USP specification is a GMP compliance failure.

The most commonly required USP water grades in pharmaceutical manufacturing are Purified Water (PW) and Water for Injection (WFI), with Highly Purified Water (HPW) applicable in certain European market contexts under Ph. Eur. standards.

USP Purified Water: What the Standard Requires

USP Purified Water is the minimum quality standard for water used directly in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, as an ingredient in non-parenteral drug products, and for equipment cleaning in non-sterile manufacturing areas.

The USP Purified Water monograph specifies:

  • Conductivity: Not more than 1.3 µS/cm at 25°C
  • Total organic carbon (TOC): Not more than 500 ppb (0.5 mg/L)
  • Microbial limits: An action limit of 100 CFU/mL (alert limits are typically set lower in facility-specific quality systems)
  • No heavy metals limit is specified, but feed water must comply with applicable potable water standards before treatment

The conductivity limit of 1.3 µS/cm is the most demanding specification for water treatment system design. Achieving it consistently requires treatment technology capable of removing dissolved ions to a level far below what standard reverse osmosis permeate achieves from typical municipal or brackish groundwater feed sources.

A brackish water RO system producing permeate at 10 to 50 µS/cm delivers excellent results for most industrial applications but does not meet USP Purified Water conductivity specification without further polishing.

Water for Injection: The Most Demanding Standard

Water for Injection (WFI) is required for the preparation of injectable drug products and for cleaning equipment and containers that contact injectable products. It carries all of the Purified Water requirements plus an additional endotoxin limit.

The USP WFI monograph specifies:

  • Conductivity: Not more than 1.3 µS/cm at 25°C
  • TOC: Not more than 500 ppb
  • Bacterial endotoxins: Not more than 0.25 EU/mL
  • Microbial limits: An action limit of 10 CFU/100 mL, significantly stricter than Purified Water

The endotoxin limit is the defining specification that separates WFI from Purified Water in terms of treatment and distribution system design. Endotoxins are lipopolysaccharide fragments from the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria. They are heat-stable, cannot be removed by sterilization, and cause pyrogenic reactions in patients if present in injectable products. WFI systems must be designed and maintained to prevent endotoxin accumulation throughout the treatment and distribution loop.

The Treatment Train That Meets USP Requirements

No single treatment technology consistently meets USP Purified Water or WFI conductivity and TOC specifications from typical pharmaceutical facility feed water sources. The industry-standard approach is a validated multi-stage treatment train where each stage reduces a specific class of contaminants.

Stage 1: Pre-Treatment

Pre-treatment protects downstream treatment components and removes bulk contamination from the feed water source. Typical pre-treatment includes multimedia filtration for turbidity and particulate removal, activated carbon filtration for chlorine and chloramine removal that would otherwise damage downstream membranes, and water softening to reduce hardness and protect RO membranes from carbonate scaling.

Stage 2: Reverse Osmosis

A high-rejection reverse osmosis membrane system removes the bulk of dissolved ions, organic compounds, particles, and microbial contaminants from the pre-treated feed water. A correctly specified and maintained pharmaceutical-grade RO system achieves greater than 99 percent rejection of dissolved solids, reducing conductivity from typical municipal feed water levels of 300 to 800 µS/cm to permeate conductivity of 5 to 20 µS/cm.

RO also removes the majority of endotoxins through size exclusion at the membrane surface, providing critical endotoxin reduction before the final polishing stage. Explore ADVANCEES MBWRO reverse osmosis systems.

Stage 3: Electrodeionization (EDI)

Electrodeionization (EDI) is the polishing stage that takes RO permeate from 5 to 20 µS/cm down to the sub-0.1 µS/cm conductivity levels that USP Purified Water specification requires. EDI operates continuously without chemical regeneration, using DC electrical current to drive residual ions through ion exchange resin and membranes.

Because it is continuous rather than batch-based, it produces consistent output quality throughout operation without the conductivity variation that chemical deionization produces as resins approach exhaustion.

The combination of RO followed by EDI is the current industry standard for pharmaceutical Purified Water production. It consistently achieves conductivity below 0.1 µS/cm and TOC below 500 ppb from properly designed and maintained systems.

Stage 4: UV Disinfection and Distribution Loop Management

For WFI and in high-bioburden control programs for Purified Water, UV disinfection at 254 nm provides continuous microbial reduction without chemical inputs that could affect water purity. Hot water sanitization of the distribution loop at 80°C or above is the validated approach for WFI distribution systems, preventing endotoxin accumulation in the loop between points of use.

Validation and Documentation Requirements

A treatment system that meets USP specifications is necessary but not sufficient for pharmaceutical GMP compliance. The system must also be validated to demonstrate that it consistently produces water within specification across the full range of operating conditions, and that the validation is documented to FDA expectations.

Pharmaceutical water system validation typically follows a three-phase approach aligned with FDA process validation guidance, covering installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ), and performance qualification (PQ). The PQ phase requires extended monitoring, typically 12 months of continuous sampling, to demonstrate that the system meets specification across seasonal variations in feed water quality.

For pharmaceutical manufacturers specifying new water treatment systems or upgrading existing ones, working with a water treatment supplier that understands validation documentation requirements from the outset of system design significantly reduces the qualification timeline and the risk of IQ and OQ failures that delay production startup.

Specifying a Pharmaceutical Water Treatment System for Your Facility

The correct system specification for pharmaceutical water treatment starts with your facility’s specific water grade requirements, daily volume demands, feed water quality data, and the regulatory framework applicable to your products and markets.

ADVANCEES designs and supplies water treatment systems for pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing, from high-rejection MBWRO reverse osmosis systems through to complete RO plus EDI treatment trains producing validated Purified Water to USP specification.

Our ultrapure water treatment systems are designed with pharmaceutical GMP requirements in mind, including hygienic component selection, validation documentation support, and system design that facilitates ongoing monitoring and sampling compliance.

Contact ADVANCEES today to discuss your facility’s USP water quality requirements, daily volume needs, and feed water conditions. Our engineering team will specify the right treatment train for your application and provide the technical documentation package your qualification program requires.

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Containerized RO Systems Bring Value to Your Organization

Containerized RO Systems Bring Value to Your Organization

Containerized RO Systems

Containerized RO Systems Bring Value to Your Organization

Water is an incredibly valuable commodity. It plays an integral role in the operations of many organizations.  In fact, most manufacturers would be unable to produce their products without it.  Because so many business plants and facilities are not located near the freshwater they need, desalination (removing the salt from seawater) has become a more widely used process in many cases. Therefore, this innovative mechanism has made what once seemed impossible very, very possible. 

That said, initially, desalination needed to take place near a body of water, it was simply the most efficient and effective way to facilitate the process.  Unfortunately, not all businesses are located in close proximity to a source; yet their need for desalinated water is high. Of course, the ability to decentralize this treatment of water is a much-needed response to a prevalent problem in a host of industries today. 

Containerized RO Systems For Businesses

Containerized RO Systems are the key to making the decentralization of desalinated water a viable and valuable answer to the issues faced by many businesses. Among its greatest advantages are the fact that these systems are portable and scalable; they can be created based on the needs of an individual organization and even relocated when and if necessary.  Additionally, the fact that the processing, including ​​RO, CIP flushing, and MMF, is included within the single container allows companies to leverage their space.

Other benefits include the fact that these containers can be deployed quickly – there is a reduced lead time so your operations are not disrupted if a sudden need arises.  And, they are modular, fully automated, and cost-effective – helping you improve your operations. Needless to say, the value of these systems is considerable; they positively impact the timing of the work being done as well as the bottom line costs. Of course, profitability is impacted by leveraging them.

ARKQUA™ – Containerized RO Systems

Advanced Equipment and Services’ newest product, ARKQUA™, is truly the latest and greatest with regard to Containerized RO Systems. Of course, businesses around the world have already begun to use it and feedback on its effectiveness has been overwhelmingly positive. 

In addition to providing the highest quality Containerized RO Systems, our firm is fully committed to outstanding client service. As such, in-depth testing is mandated prior to shipping, and remote monitoring is always included. Of course, we are committed to providing our clients with the products they need to operate in challenging times; as such we continually invest in development so we are able to meet their changing needs.

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