Precipitation Characteristics of CaCO<sub>3</sub> Scaling on Stainless Steel in Cooling Tower Condition

Abstract

Stainless steel 304 and 316 (ss304 and ss316) are widely used in heat exchangers, and the precipitation characteristics of CaCO3 is the first step to research anti-fouling technology. CaCO3 scaling precipitated on coupons from 1.0mmol/l CaCO3 solution at 35°C. By weighing the coupons before and after static reaction experiments to get the mass of scaling and the morphology was taken by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results show that at the same condition there is more fouling on ss304 than ss316. Higher pH not only promotes square aragonite and calcite and square aragonite gradually recrystallize to calcite but also makes both homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation rate increasing, and the former increases more, so the fouling mass is bigger at lower pH than higher pH; fouling grows at the place with higher surface energy first and then extend to surrounding place, and when the number increases and crystals grow big and connect each other to form fouling layer.