Types
of Scaling Compounds That Can Be Treated
As
noted previously, Professor John Donaldson and Dr. Sue Grimes of the Chemistry
Department of the City University, London have stated that “A
magnetic field will interact with any substance that caries a charge, however
small in any fluid. The nuclei on
which the crystals start growing and the growing crystallites are very small and
will have charged surfaces. As they
pass through the magnetic field, these charged particles encounter considerable
forces as the magnetic field interacts with them.
The magnetic field acts at the surface of the crystallites modifying the
nature of the charges at the surface. This
alters the growth of the crystal in general and on specific planes.”
This is discussed in the accompanying articles one,
two
and
three.
Magnetic Fluid
Treatment (MFT) functions only for diamagnetic substances. Diamagnetic substance react differently under the influence
of magnetic fields to how paramagnetic and ferromagnetic substances react.
When a diamagnetic substance is passed through a
magnetic field under certain conditions, the velocity of the electrons is
increased, and subsequent to passing through the magnetic field the electrons
continue to revolve at their new higher velocity, that is, the electrons remain
in the higher energy or excited state. It is
this higher energy state of the electrons that results in the diamagnetic
substance displaying modified properties.
It
is therefore obvious that the range of substances that may be affected by
magnetic fluid treatment is very large. It
has been found through long experience that diamagnetic substances with a
magnetic susceptibility of less than -0.25, when subjected to a magnetic field
under certain specified conditions, that the properties of the scaling forming
crystals are changed in a beneficial way in that they no longer ‘stick’ to the walls of
vessels and pipes, that is, they no longer exhibit the characteristic of forming
scale deposits. Microphotographs of treated and untreated crystals show
that magnetic fluid treatment results in a change in the size and structure of
the scale forming crystals, with the crystals having "softer" or
rounded edges.
The strength of crystal bonding to form scale is in the
sharp edges of the untreated crystals (the electric charge concentrates at the
sharp edges). The softer or rounded
edges of the MFT treated crystals reduce crystal bonding strength (rounded edges
reduces the concentration of electric charge) with the result that the crystals
then don't grow as large and do not aggregate to form scale build ups. This also explains why MFT is scale type dependent and
not industry type dependent.
The
most commonly treated inorganic mineral salts are the calcium and magnesium
salts found in water systems in the form of calcite, aragonite, gypsum and
dolomite. Other inorganic scales
include those occurring in industry such as zinc phosphates and barium
sulphates. These scaling problems
can be totally eliminated.
Magnetic
fluid treatment is also effective in controlling/eliminating organic scaling
compounds such as paraffins, waxes and asphaltenes present in petroleum process
systems and proteins, lactose and fats found in milk process systems.
Some of the treatable scales are discussed in the
accompanying publications.
The
following tabulation gives the magnetic susceptibility of but a few examples of
treatable inorganic and organic scales (values less than -0.25) that cause
problems in industrial, commercial and
domestic fluid process systems.
| Scale
forming substance |
Magnetic
Susceptibility (10-6 cgs) |
| Alumina |
-0.37 |
| Alumina
Trihydrate |
-0.40 |
| Asphaltenes |
-0.55 |
| Barite |
-0.71 |
| Boehmite |
-0.37 |
| Calcite |
-0.38 |
| Celestite |
-0.58 |
| Gibbsite |
-0.43 |
| Gypsum |
-0.49 |
| Lime |
-0.39 |
| Magnesium Carbonate |
-0.51 |
| Milk Stone |
-0.38 |
| Oleic Acid |
-0.74 |
| Paraffin |
-0.60 |
| Silica |
-0.49 |
| Sodium Chloride |
-0.50 |
| Sodium Hydroxide |
-0.59 |
| Sodium Phosphate |
-0.43 |
| Sodium Silicates |
-0.45 |
| Sugar |
-0.61 |
| Wax |
-0.60 |
| Zinc Phosphate |
-1.41 |
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