The mechanisms of action of inhibitors in the process of calcium carbonate precipitate formation in reverse osmosis apparatus

Summary

Knowledge of the mechanism of precipitation of slightly-soluble salts on reverse osmosis membranes is extremely important while choosing measures to prevent it and reduce the consumption of concentrate. The conducted studies provided for enunciating a fresh approach to the mechanism of crystalline deposit formation and the role of inhibitors in preventing this process. The development of the experimental technique is based on the idea that the first crystallization phase — crystal nucleation is homogeneous, that is, occurs in stagnant zones in the concentrate volume at high oversaturation with calcium carbonate. Upon the formation the crystals are removed from the stagnant zones and settled on the membrane surface like other suspended particles present in the treated water. The results of studying the adsorption of polymer inhibitor molecules on the crystal surface during nucleation and crystalline growth on the membrane are presented. The experimentally obtained dependences of the rate of adsorption of inhibitors on the dose of inhibitors, the rate of formation of calcium carbonate, the rate of nucleation, and on the total surface of the germinal crystals are given. The study of micrographs of crystals showed the dependence of the size and number of crystals on the oversaturation value in the stagnant zone during nucleation as well as on the effectiveness of the inhibitor. A method is presented that allows determining the concentration of dissolved salts in the stagnant zones of the membrane apparatus and the oversaturation values corresponding to the onset of the crystallization process eliminating the addition and use of various inhibitors.

Key words

calcium carbonate , reverse osmosis , inhibitor , mechanism of precipitation on membranes , stagnant zones , nucleation rate , crystal growth rate , adsorption of inhibitor