Aging of copper pipes by drinking water

Abstract

Thermodynamic models were used to correlate experimental and field data for the concentrations of copper (Cu), anions, and cations in drinking water with Cu‐containing scales on the inner walls of pipes. This study focused special attention on the aging processes of these scales. Precipitation and dissolution were predicted to be the main aging causes for Cu scales present on the inner walls of pipes. When data were grouped by the solid that controls solubility, the average 8‐h stagnant Cu concentration in drinking water was found to decrease linearly with average pipe age. For these average values, langite was the most soluble and youngest film, followed in both solubility and age by cupric hydroxide, azurite, brochantite, malachite, and tenorite. The more stable solids—malachite and tenorite—were 8 and 16 times less soluble, respectively, than the most soluble solid, langite. Scales usually contained more than one compound, a finding that was attributed to temperature changes, variability of water composition, long stagnation periods, and aging. During the aging process, parts of a young scale surface area may be covered and blocked for further reaction by a precipitate. During long stagnation periods, such factors as changes in pH, oxygen, and carbon dioxide concentrations and precipitation of calcium solids may induce a different Cu compound precipitate.