Abstract
Scale deposits in water systems often result in ample technical and economic problems. Conventional chemical treatments for scale control are expensive and may cause health concerns and ecological implications. Non-chemical water treatment technologies such as electromagnetic field (EMF) are attractive options so the use of scale inhibitors, anti-scalants, or other chemical involved processes can be avoided or minimized. Although there are demonstrated beneficial effects of EMF on scale control, the scientific basis for its purported effectiveness is not clear in the available literature, especially lack of quantitative assessment and systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of EMF technologies. This review aims to elucidate the factors pertaining to EMF water treatment and their anti-scaling effects. We have critically reviewed relevant literature on EMF scale control, in particular recent studies, in various water systems, including desalination membranes, heat exchangers (e.g., cooling towers), water pipes, and bulk solutions. We systematically studied the impacts of operational conditions on EMF efficacy, and quantitatively evaluated the EMF improvement on scaling control. The scaling prevention mechanisms, conventional and cutting-edge characterization methods, and potential real-time monitoring techniques are summarized and discussed. The economic benefits of EMF treatment in terms of chemicals, operation and maintenance costs are highlighted. This review provides guidelines for future EMF system design and points out the research needed to further enhance EMF treatment performance.
Highlights
Scale deposits in water systems of industrial plants and domestic facilities often cause significant technical problems and economic loss through blocking the flow of water in pipes, reducing efficiency in desalination processes, and decreasing thermal transfer in heat exchangers[1,2,3,4,5,6]
Because this review focuses on scaling control, scale deposit on the foreign surface, water flux, water recovery, as well as salt/ organic rejection were selected as the indicators to evaluate the efficiency of EMF for different water systems
We collected and studied the relevant literature targeting the challenge of scaling control in various water systems, including membranes, heat exchanger systems, pipes, and bulk solutions, discussed a number of effects and factors pertaining to EMF water treatment and its anti-scaling effects
Summary
Scale deposits in water systems of industrial plants and domestic facilities often cause significant technical problems and economic loss through blocking the flow of water in pipes, reducing efficiency in desalination processes, and decreasing thermal transfer in heat exchangers[1,2,3,4,5,6]. Conventional methods of preventing scale formation include ion exchange, pre-precipitation of the sparingly soluble salts, and addition of chemicals and scale inhibitors. These methods are expensive and may change the solution chemistry, causing health concerns for human or aquatic life[7]. 4,000 studies have reported EMF associated anti-scaling and anifouling work from last century, and the quantity of publications increased exponentially during this century (Fig. 1), indicating EMF is a critical technique for scaling control In these publications, EMF has been applied to mitigate bacterial contamination, organic, and inorganic fouling; improve oil separation and water splitting; assist other water treatment technologies, e.g. electrocoagulation, advanced oxidation processes. The possible scaling prevention mechanisms, characterization methods, factors pertaining to EMF water treatment, and the economics of the anti-scaling effects, are discussed
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