Phase Analysis and Crystal Morphology of Barium Sulphate Precipitated from the Laminar Flowing Water

Abstract

Barium sulphate (BaSO4) is common scale deposits precipitated in pipes which can hinder the flow rate and lower heat transfer efficiency. Therefore, there is a need to address the understanding of scale formation in pipes. In this paper, the formation of BaSO4 scale in the laminar flowing water was investigated in the laboratory rig of scale formation. The scale forming solution was prepared by BaCl2 and Na2SO4 with Ba2+ concentrations in equimolar ppm of 2500, 3000, and 3500. The pH solution was set up in the values of 6, 8, and 10. The crystals were deposited on the four coupons pipes made of copper inside the pipes. The scale deposited from the flowing water was then characterized by using SEM equipped by EDX for crystal morphology and elemental analysis. XRD method was used for the crystalline phase analysis. The results showed that BaSO4 crystals with star-like morphology can be observed from SEM imaging. The pure crystal barite can be obtained from the experiments as can be confirmed by XRD analysis. It is obvious that the barite crystals can be easily formed in the basic solution.