Preparation and application of a phosphorous free and non-nitrogen scale inhibitor in industrial cooling water systems

A novel environmentally friendly type of calcium carbonate, zinc (II) and iron (III) scale inhibitor Acrylic acid- allylpolyethoxy carboxylate copolymer (AA-APEL) was synthesized. The anti-scale property of the AA-APEL toward CaCO₃, zinc (II) and iron (III) in the artificial cooling water was studied through static scale inhibition tests. The observation shows that both calcium carbonate, zinc (II) and iron (III) inhibition increase with increasing the dosage of AA-APEL. The effect on formation of CaCO₃ was investigated with combination of scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis and fourier transform infrared spectrometer, respectively. The results showed that the AA-APEL copolymer not only influenced calcium carbonate crystal morphology and crystal size but also the crystallinity. The crystallization of CaCO₃ in the absence of inhibitor was rhombohedral calcite crystal, whereas a mixture of calcite with vaterite crystals was found in the presence of the AA-APEL copolymer. Inhibition mechanism is proposed that the interactions between calcium or iron ions and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are the fundamental impetus to restrain the formation of the scale in cooling water systems.