Table 1 Comparison of different molecular weights of PAA antiscalants and their corresponding scale inhibition effectiveness according to cited studies and the present study
Parameter to evaluate antiscalant effectiveness | Molecular weight of PAA reported | Effectiveness of respective PAA against CaSO4/CaCO3 scaling | Study |
|---|---|---|---|
Induction time based on turbidity increase of 1 NTU | ≤500 Da | Low/nil inhibition of both CaSO4 and CaCO3 scaling | Current study |
≥500 Da | High CaSO4 and CaCO3 inhibition | ||
Inhibition efficiency via change in Ca2+ concentration | 2500–7000 Da | Effective CaCO3 inhibition by PAA with MW 2500 Da; no enhanced inhibition by PAA with higher MW | Shen et al.8 |
Induction time via slope of turbidity (0–100%) vs. time (0–300 min) plots | 2000 Da | 10% turbidity increase in ~200 min against CaSO4 | Rabizadeh et al.12 |
100,000 Da | 10% turbidity increase in ~50 min against CaSO4 | ||
Inhibition efficiency via change in Ca2+ concentration | 6043 Da | Good CaCO3 inhibition reported for given PAA compared to other antiscalants | Zuo et al.6 |
