Classification and hierarchical cluster analysis of principal Romanian bottled mineral waters
Katalin Bodor, Zsolt Bodor, Alexandru Szép, Róber Szép
Abstract
In the present study, 53 Romanian origin and commercially available mineral water brands were collected from the market and analyzed based on the chemical, mineral content labeled by manufacturers. The selected chemical parameters were, from the cations: Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, from the anions: HCO3-, Cl-, SO42-, and fixed residue at 180 °C. The Spearman correlation showed that cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+) had a positive correlation of 0.90, 0.83 and 0.75 with HCO3-. The mineral content of bottled waters varied between a broad spectrum. According to the fixed residue, the distribution of low, medium, and rich mineralized water was 43.9 %, 41.46 % and 14.63 %. Based on ion composition, mineral waters can be classified as bicarbonate-, calcium-, magnesium-sodium waters with 34 %, 26.4 %, 24.5 % and 18.9 %, respectively. From the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) two different clusters and five sub-clusters were derided; the first had three mineral and bicarbonate degrees (1.1-low, 1.3-medium and 1.2-high), and the average Ca2+/Mg2+ ratios varied between 3.61−5.71. The mineral water brands with very high mineral and bicarbonate content belonged to cluster 2. The differences in the chemical composition of the bottled waters can be mainly attributed to the geological structure of the hydro-mineral basins, the post-volcanic activities and residence time as well.