Deuterium-depleted water

Deuterium-depleted water (DDW), also known more ambiguously as light water,[1] is water which has a lower concentration of deuterium than occurs naturally. Deuterium a heavier isotope of hydrogen which has, in addition to its one proton, a neutron, that roughly doubles the mass of the hydrogen atom.

In Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water, deuterium occurs at a rate of 155.76 ppm. The production of heavy water involves isolating and removing deuterium within water. The by-product of this process is light water. Production of light water can result during electrolysis, distillation, and desalination. Filtration through special membranes and crystallization are also considered preparation methods.[2] It can also be produced directly using the Girdler sulfide process.[1]

Research

Experiments have looked at drinking light water in addition to chemotherapy in cancer. Research on the effects of deuterium-depletion on living cells has been very limited with less than a dozen peer-reviewed research papers available via PubMed in mid-2011.[3]

Depleted water (125 ppm deuterium corresponds to the deuterium:protium ratio D:H=1:7695) at a consumption as high as 2 litres per day can influence the deuterium concentration in human body (average 40 litres with deuterium:protium ratio about D:H = 1:6418) for less than 1% (decreasing the normal ratio to D:H = 1:6472). A 1963 American paper is reported to infer that no biological effect should be expected at this level.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Boyle, Rebecca (January 6, 2011). "With New Method, China Can Mass-Produce Light Water For Its Citizens' Thirst". Popular Science. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
  2. ↑ Barishev, M. G.; Dzhimak, S. S. (February 2013). "International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications". 3 (1): 523–526. ISSN 2248-9622.
  3. ↑ Koch, Steven J. (4 March 2011). "I am maximally-skeptical that there currently exists any evidence that drinking deuterium-depleted water has health benefits or will cure disease". Blogspot.com. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  4. ↑ Thompson, J. F. (1963), Biological effects of deuterium, New York: Pergamon Press
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