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Articles and methods providing liquid-impregnated scale-phobic surfaces

a technology of liquid impregnating and scale, applied in the direction of packaging foodstuffs, packaged goods types, lighting and heating apparatus, etc., can solve the problems of scale formation or precipitation fouling of heat exchanger surfaces and oil and gas pipelines, significant loss of efficiency and useful life of process equipment in these industries, and major impact on the capital and operating costs of most conversion processes. , to achieve the effect of reducing the number of particles, and reducing the number o

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-10-02
MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a way to create surfaces that are resistant to scale nucleation and growth by combining low surface energy, low roughness, and a liquid-liquid interface. This surface can be created by treating standard vessel materials with a low surface-energy liquid and then using them to impregnate microtextured surfaces. Existing industrial vessels can also be retrofitted with microtextured surfaces. The result is a stable surface that prevents the formation of mineral scale deposits and allows for easy storage and handling of liquids. The impregnating liquid is held in place by capillary forces and does not leach into the contents of the vessel. The resulting surface has improved mobility of liquids on its surface.

Problems solved by technology

Scale formation is a persistent problem encountered in a variety of industries, such as the oil and gas industry, desalination plants, and power plants, among others, and results in a significant loss of efficiency and useful lifetime of process equipment in these industries.
For example, scale formation or precipitation fouling of heat exchanger surfaces and oil and gas pipelines are a significant problem.
The challenges associated with scale formation have a major effect on the capital and operating costs of most conversion processes.
Besides having low solubility limits, a major difficulty with CaSO4 is the phase transformation between its hydrates and polymorphs, particularly at elevated temperatures (above 100° C.
Furthermore, the solubility of CaSO4 is strongly affected by the presence and concentrations of other ions in the system.
Another challenge with CaSO4 scale deposits is that they form even at low pH and can be removed effectively only by mechanical means, which significantly increases the operating cost of the plant.
However, these techniques are suboptimal because of the high, often prohibitive, costs involved in the removal process, as well as their environmentally unfriendly nature.
However, such chemical additives and coatings involve polymers, thiols, or silanes, which can deteriorate under harsh environments that are generally encountered during scale formation in various industries, creating an environmental hazard.

Method used

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  • Articles and methods providing liquid-impregnated scale-phobic surfaces
  • Articles and methods providing liquid-impregnated scale-phobic surfaces
  • Articles and methods providing liquid-impregnated scale-phobic surfaces

Examples

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experimental examples

Example 1

[0135]In this example, scaling experiments were conducted using calcium sulfate solution at a temperature of about 45° C. Bare smooth silicon, silanized silicon, silicon nanograss, silanized nanograss, and liquid impregnated surfaces were tested.

[0136]To systematically study scale formation on the test substrates, these substrates were immersed inside a 600 ml glass beaker. To reduce the surface energy of the dish and slides rack and prevent preferential scale formation, the substrates were coated with trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane before the experiment. The glass beaker was filled with a saturated solution of CaSO4 in water and placed on a multi-position hotplate (Ika Works IKAMAG RT 15 position Hot Plate). Temperature was set at 45° C. and controlled within ±3° C. of the set point. The experimental set-up allows the solutions to reach supersaturation through evaporation of the aqueous phase during the course of experiment (80 h).

[0137]FIG. 4 shows a schemati...

example 2

[0149]In this Example, scaling experiments were conducted on stainless steel and carbon steel. Carbon steel is a low cost structural material whose low corrosion resistance is a serious drawback in certain industrial applications. This example demonstrates that by texturing and liquid-impregnating stainless steel and carbon steel surfaces, such surfaces can be made to become more resistant to scale formation.

[0150]The experimental setup was similar to the one described for silicon substrates in Example 1.

[0151]Stainless-steel (type 304, ASTM A240, from Mcmaster) and carbon-steel (grade 1010, ASTM A109, also from Mcmaster) were sand-blasted using silica and alumina particles of 80 grit size for ˜3 min. The feature size of the sandblasted steel is roughly 10 μm. In certain embodiments, the feature size for liquid impregnation may be less than about 100 μm.

[0152]After sand-blasting, polyethylmethacrylate (PEMA) (surface energy density 33 J / m2) was used to modify the surface energy of s...

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Abstract

This invention relates generally to articles, devices, and methods for inhibiting or preventing the formation of scale during various industrial processes. In certain embodiments, a vessel is provided for use in an industrial process, the vessel having a textured, liquid-impregnated surface in contact with a mineral solution, wherein the liquid-impregnated surface comprises a matrix of features spaced sufficiently close to stably contain an impregnating liquid lubricant therebetween or therewithin, wherein the impregnating lubricant has a low surface energy density, and wherein the spreading coefficient Sos(w) of the impregnating lubricant (subscript ‘o’) on the substrate (subscript ‘s’) in the presence of the salt solution (subscript ‘w’) is greater than zero, such that the impregnating lubricant fully submerges the textured substrate.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 922,574, filed Dec. 31, 2013, entitled “Articles and Methods Providing Liquid-Impregnated Scale-Phobic Surfaces,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 771,486, filed Mar. 1, 2013, entitled “Articles and Methods Providing Liquid-Impregnated Scale-Phobic Surfaces,” the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to articles, devices, and methods for inhibiting or preventing the formation of scale on surfaces, and more particularly, to articles, devices, and methods for inhibiting or preventing the formation of mineral scale on surfaces in industrial processes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Scale formation is a persistent problem encountered in a variety of industries, such as the oil and gas industry, desalination plants, and pow...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B65D25/14
CPCB65D25/14F28D19/00B05D5/08B05D7/227F28F19/00F28F19/02F28F2245/08
Inventor BENGALURU SUBRAMANYAM, SRINIVAS PRASADAZIMI, GISELESMITH, JONATHAN DAVIDVARANASI, KRIPA K.
Owner MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH
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