The Performance of an Environment-Relief Antiscalant on the Inhibition of CaCO3 Formation

by Hsin-Hung Ou, Jien-Lein Han

Publisher - China Steel Corporation, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Category - Engineering & IT

The precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) scale on heat transfer surfaces widely occurs in numerous industrial processes. To break the tradeoff between environmental policy and economic growth, an environmental relief antiscalant (ERA) was developed in this study. The anti-scale property of ERA towards the formation of CaCO3 in the artificial cooling water was studied based on static scale inhibition tests. It was shown that ERA exhibited excellent ability to suppress CaCO3 formation, with approximately 98.1% inhibition at a level of 4 mg/L phosphate, which is only half of a commercial product. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction studies were also performed to identify the change in crystal surfaces with the presence of ERA. Light scattering spectroscopy was particular established to investigate the inhibition mechanism and kinetics of CaCO3 formation with antiscalant. In addition, an inhibition mechanism was proposed that ERA could recognize and react with positively charged calcium ions, resulting in an increase in the solubility of calcium ions in water phase.

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