Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) Scale Formation in A Piping System with Laminar Flow with Varied Temperatures and Malic Acid (C4h6o5) As Additives

Abstract

Scale formation is a frequent problem encountered in industrial piping system. The occurrence of the scale is due to a chemical reaction between the dissolved ions in water. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is one of the scale that is often found. Scaling will thicken the pipe walls and can affect the rate off low or heat transfer. Hence preventing to the growth of scales is necesary in pipe. In this study some experiments were conducted on the growth of the scale of calcium carbonate in a test pipes, by reacting solution of CaCl2 and Na2CO each with a Ca2+ concentration of 3500 ppm with a flow rate of 30ml/min and temperatures used were 25°, 30° and 40°C. Malicbacid(C4H6O5) was added to the solutionas additive with concentrations of 0, 3, and 5 ppm. Calcium carbonate crystals could be seen from the results omorphological studies conducted using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The SEM results indicate that at 25°C and without additives, the scale comprises of calcite and vaterite, whereas with the additive of 5 ppm malic acid, the scale is vaterite with the larger crystal size and there is also calcite, but phase of the vaterite is dominant. At 40°C and without additive the crystal of a aragonite resembles a pile of needles.