Scale, from hard water

Problems with heating coils Internal coil corrosion Note corrosion debris is green hydrated copper carbonate Cu[11IC03 nH20 red cuprous oxide Cu20 /ntemal coil deposition Acid corrosion from soft water. Pinhole corrosion from 02 and C02. Erosion corrosion over 6 ft/s flow. Hard water scale from hard water. 

Lucey examined a number of examples of pitting of copper pipes and tanks from hard water districts, and found that there was no more calcium carbonate scale deposited around the pits than on other parts of the metal surface. There was, however, a large amount of CaCOs in the mound... 

Joints in copper components may be a source of trouble. Copper/zinc brazing alloys may dezincify and consequently give rise to leaks . In some waters, soft solders are preferentially attacked unless in a proper capillary joint. Copper/phosphorus, copper/silver/phosphorus, and silver brazing alloys are normally satisfactory jointing materials. Excessive corrosion of copper is sometimes produced by condensates containing dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. Rather severe corrosion sometimes occurs on the fire side of fire-back boilers and on electric heater element sheaths under scales deposited from hard waters . 

A FIGURE 18.22 Scale formation. The interior of this water pipe has been coated with CaCOs and other insoiuble saits deposited from hard water. 

The effect of an externally applied magnetic field on crystalline scale deposition, typically of CaCOs from hard water flowing in metal pipes, still remains a controversial subject despite the considerable number of investigations made over the past thirty years or so. There is still no general agreement on either the efficacy of commercially available devices or on the speculative mechanisms that have been proposed to explain their action (Sohnel and Mullin, 1988 Prasad et al., 1999 Kotsinaris et al., 1999). 

White Dirt A fault sometimes occurring during the manufacture of tableware as a result of the protrusion of white particles through the glaze usually, if the glaze layer is adequately thick, any such dirt is hidden. Sources include the bedding medium (alumina or sand), fragments of the body itself, and scale derived from hard water. 

Water Treatment Industrial CleaningPipplications. Boiler and cooling tower waters are treated with lignosulfonates to prevent scale deposition (78). In such systems, lignosulfonates sequester hard water salts and thus prevent their deposition on metal surfaces. They can also prevent the precipitation of certain iasoluble heat-coagulable particles (79). Typical use levels for such appHcatioas range from 1—1000 ppm. 

The speciality chemical LifXTl (40% "CP) is used when calcium is contra-indicated,. such as in the. sanitation of hard water and in. some dairy applications. Some idea of the scale of these applications cati be gained from the following production figures which relate to the USA ... 

The effect of pH on the corrosion of zinc has already been mentioned (p. 4.170). In the range of pH values from 5 -5 to 12, zinc is quite stable, and since most natural waters come within this range little difficulty is encountered in respect of pH. The pH does, however, affect the scale-forming properties of hard water (see Section 2.3 for a discussion of the Langelier index). If the pH is below the value at which the water is in equilibrium with calcium carbonate, the calcium carbonate will tend to dissolve rather than form a scale. The same effect is produced in the presence of considerable amounts of carbon dioxide, which also favours the dissolution of calcium carbonate. In addition, it is important to note that small amounts of metallic impurities (particularly copper) in the water can cause quite severe corrosion, and as little as 0-05 p.p.m. of copper in a domestic water system can be a source of considerable trouble with galvanised tanks and pipes. 

Calcareous Scale a scale consisting largely of calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide which may be precipitated from a hard water. 

Similarly, vinyl monomers can be put in order from hard to soft monomer, according to their hydrophobicities. As a scale of hydrophobicity of vinyl monomer, the solubility in water may be adopted. Figure 10 showed some examples. Styrene is the most hard monomer and AN is the most soft monomer. Butyl acrylate and butyl methacrylate are more hard by one order than methyl or ethyl acrylate and methacrylate. 

Multimedia filters, which consist of a top layer of coarse and low density anthracite, layers of silica, and then dense finest medium vitreous silicate, remove about 98% of particulates >20 tm. These filters are regularly back-washed to avoid buildup of particulates. Finer filters (S-lO tm) are used to remove suspended matter and colloidal materials. To prevent scaling due to water hardness, sodium ions generated from brine are exchanged with calcium and magnesium ions in the water. Activated carbon or metabisulfite is used to remove chlorine. 

Sometimes people refer to water as being "hard" or "soft." If someone says water is hard, he means that there are a lot of calcium (Ca2+) or magnesium (Mg2+) ions dissolved in it. Hard water causes several problems. First, it can cause scales to form on the inside of pipes, water heaters, or teakettles. These scales occur when the calcium or magnesium precipitates out of solution and sticks to the insides of pipes. The scales build up and eventually the pipes are completely clogged. Hard water also prevents soap from lathering, and it reacts with soap to leave behind a sticky film commonly called soap scum. 

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