Electrochemical pretreatment for prevention of scale on metal surfaces

Recently interest has focused on understanding the relationship between heterogeneous nucleation and growth on pipeline surfaces because scale adhesion is recognised as a much more serious issue than homogeneous bulk precipitation. In an earlier study it was shown that formation of an inhibitor film on a metal surface was affected by the presence of certain cations, inhibitor concentration and electrode potential. The inhibitor film has a beneficial effect in preventing scale formation from a supersaturated solution.