A Comparison of Taste of Drinking Water for Water Purifier Filter Development Lee Kyung-Hee1, Park Soo-Yong2, Jo Eun-Hyeon3, Lee Dong-Hyung4,* 1Research Scholar, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea 2Research Scholar, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea 3Research Scholar, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea 4Professor, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hanbat National University, Dongseo-daero, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea *Corresponding author: Dong-Hyung Lee, E-mail: leedh@hanbat.ac.kr
Online published on 4 June, 2019. Abstract Background/Objectives The competitiveness of water purifier products is dependent on the taste of water preferred by consumers. Therefore, this study was carried out to compare and analyze the taste of drinkable spring water and purified water, with the aim of using the data in developing a water purifier filter that would satisfy the water taste. Methods/Statistical analysis In this study, 22 students from H University drank three types of drinkable spring water, which were designated A, B and C, and purified water, D, and compared the sensory stimuli. In order to examine the preferences and differences based on the sense of taste, the stimuli were paired for one-to-one comparisons. The analysis results were expressed on a yardstick for easy interpretation. Findings As a result of carrying out the experiment based on the paired comparison method to examine water taste preferences using four stimuli, which were three products of drinkable spring water from different sources and one type of purified water from a water purifier manufactured by company K, there was a significant difference among the stimuli. Also, the results of comparing the individual taste of water based on a taste-based sensory evaluation (evaluated tastes: sweetness, saltiness, bitterness and sourness) showed that the stimuli were ranked as A, C, B and D in the order of most sweet to least sweet and as A, B, C and D in the order of most bitter to least bitter. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in sourness or saltiness. There were also differences in the mineral content of the drinkable spring water used as the stimuli of this experiment. When the mineral content and the sensory test results were compared, it was found that high calcium content corresponded with a high level of sweetness and high magnesium content corresponded with a high level of bitterness. Improvements/Applications The taste of purified water was inferior to that of drinkable spring water, and in order for company K to boost the competitiveness of its water purifier in the market, improving the taste of the purified water is the most urgent issue at hand. Top Keywords Water purifier, water purifier filter, drinkable spring water, water taste, bottled water, paired comparison method. Top |