Application of computational and experimental studies to inhibit calcium carbonate scale formation in sanitary hot water at different temperatures

• M. Belattar¹, M. El housse¹, S. Ben-aazza¹, B. El Ibrahimi², A. Hadfi¹, I. Karmal¹, S. Darbal¹, M. Nassiri¹, N. Hafid³, H. Cheap-Charpentier^4,5 and A. Driouiche¹

¹ Laboratory of Process Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, P.O. Box: 8106, 80 000, Agadir, Morocco
² Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, P.O. Box 6146, 86 153, Aït Melloul, Morocco
³ Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, P.O. Box: 8106, 80 000, Agadir, Morocco
⁴ Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire Interfaces et Systèmes Électrochimiques (LISE) 4, place Jussieu, CP 133, F-75005, Paris, France
⁵ EPF – Graduate School of Engineering, 55 avenue du president Wilson, 94230 Cachan, France

Abstract: Tourism is a key driver of socio-economic development in Agadir city (southern Morocco). It contributes 17% of the city’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, scale formation on the interior surfaces of appliances used in tourist units causes major technological, financial, and ecological complications which makes it a crucial problem in the tourism sector. The main aim of this article is to evaluate the anti-scaling effectiveness of a sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) at different temperatures and concentrations via Laboratory of Chemistry and Genie of the Environment (LCGE) method which used to explore the inhibition performance of SHMP against Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃) scale at 30–60°C. Then, the scale inhibition mechanism is enquired by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). To support the experimental findings, the Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are performed. Experimental results indicate that very small inhibitor amounts of 8, 10, 20 and 22 mg/L respectively at 30, 40, 50 and 60°C of the SHMP completely inhibit CaCO₃ scale formation. In the presence of SHMP, SEM’ images clearly show that morphological and crystal scale has changed in compared to the crystals formed without the inhibitor. This indicates that SHMP blocks uniform CaCO₃ crystal growth through adsorption in active CaCO₃ crystal growth sites. Moreover, the computational calculations adopted in conformity with the experiment findings. Accordingly, SHMP could be regarded as a potentially valuable source of scale inhibitors at a high temperature.

Keywords: scaling inhibition, sodium hexametaphosphate, LCGE, molecular dynamics simulations, CaCO₃

Int. J. Corros. Scale Inhib., 2024, 13, no. 4, 2135-2155
doi: 10.17675/2305-6894-2024-13-4-12

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