Deionized

He could taste the familiar tang of museum air—an arid, deionized essence that carried a faint hint of carbon—the product of industrial, coal-filter dehumidifiers that ran around the clock to counteract the corrosive carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors.

Cement pastes, with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.5, were prepared by (i) adding ordinary Portland cement (CEM I) to deionized water (control samples) or (ii) mixing CEM I with a lyophilized bacterial agent and then putting those dry ingredients into deionized water (bacteria samples).