Purify

Purify refers to the process of removing contaminants or impurities from a substance or environment in order to achieve greater purity. The act can be physical, chemical, or biological, and it is central to chemistry, engineering, environmental science, medicine, and ritual practice. The word derives from Latin purificare, purus meaning “pure” and facere meaning “to make.”

In science and industry, purification encompasses methods such as filtration, distillation, crystallization, chromatography, precipitation, and membrane separation (including reverse osmosis). These technologies are used to produce pure chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals, and solvents, or to remove impurities from water, air, and industrial streams. Metallurgy relies on refining and electrochemical methods to reduce an impure metal to a purer state. In biology, purification refers to isolating a specific substance, such as a protein or enzyme, from a mixture, often using chromatography. Data purification, or data cleansing, involves correcting or removing inaccurate or duplicate records to improve dataset quality. Isotopic purification, including uranium and other isotopes, and ore purification are specialized industrial applications.

In many religious and cultural traditions, purification denotes ritual washing or rites intended to cleanse spiritual or moral defilement, such as ablutions, baptisms, or mikveh usage. Purification concepts also appear in environmental and public health contexts, where achieving higher purity levels can be a regulatory or safety objective.

See also:

- water purification

- air purification

- protein purification

- chemical purification

- data cleansing

- refining