TY - JOUR
T1 - Growth mechanisms for composite fouling: The impact of substrates on detachment processes
AU - Løge, Isaac A.
AU - Anabaraonye, Benaiah U.
AU - Fosbøl, Philip Loldrup
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Fouling processes present significant challenges in many industries;
understanding these processes is crucial for accurate prediction and
planning effective mitigation protocols. Composite fouling is prevalent
in many industrial applications, however, studies of these systems are
scarce. In this work, we investigate crystallization fouling in
composite systems to understand how substrate properties affect foulant
growth behaviour. Crystal (BaSO4 and CaCO3)
deposition studies were performed in a once-through flow setup. We used
high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography scanning to visualize
the formed crystals. We extracted the distribution of the shapes,
frequencies of the protuberances, surface coverage and density of
clusters through image analysis. Our results reveal that deposition
behaviour depends on complex substrate-foulant interactions. Whereas the
net deposition of CaCO3 on a BaSO4
substrate increased with time, significant detachment processes were
observed for the reverse case. The increased detachment of BaSO44on a CaCO3 substrate can be attributed to either the weak interaction within the CaCO3 crystal structure or the CaCO3/steel
interface. We also observe that substrate properties govern crystal
cluster sizes and distribution. The results from this work provide a
basis for the development of more accurate prediction models.
AB - Fouling processes present significant challenges in many industries;
understanding these processes is crucial for accurate prediction and
planning effective mitigation protocols. Composite fouling is prevalent
in many industrial applications, however, studies of these systems are
scarce. In this work, we investigate crystallization fouling in
composite systems to understand how substrate properties affect foulant
growth behaviour. Crystal (BaSO4 and CaCO3)
deposition studies were performed in a once-through flow setup. We used
high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography scanning to visualize
the formed crystals. We extracted the distribution of the shapes,
frequencies of the protuberances, surface coverage and density of
clusters through image analysis. Our results reveal that deposition
behaviour depends on complex substrate-foulant interactions. Whereas the
net deposition of CaCO3 on a BaSO4
substrate increased with time, significant detachment processes were
observed for the reverse case. The increased detachment of BaSO44on a CaCO3 substrate can be attributed to either the weak interaction within the CaCO3 crystal structure or the CaCO3/steel
interface. We also observe that substrate properties govern crystal
cluster sizes and distribution. The results from this work provide a
basis for the development of more accurate prediction models.
KW - Composite fouling
KW - Detachment
KW - BaSO4
KW - CaCO3
KW - Growth mechanism
KW - Heterogeneous nucleation
UR - https://youtu.be/f16wQ-5W2-I
U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2022.137008
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2022.137008
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 446
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
M1 - 137008
ER -