Experimental Study on Scale Control in Surface Pipelines by Magnetic Descaler

Scale deposit especially calcium carbonate scale leads to economical and technical
problems by blocking the flow of fluid. Various chemical or physical treatments have
been proposed to decrease scale problem. Magnetic Descaler (MD) viewed to be better
alternative to expensive conventional chemical treatment. The advantages of using MD
include low cost, environmental friendly, flexible and requires no maintenance. However,
magnetic descaler (MD) effectiveness in scale removal is still in doubt. Many studies
proved MD to be as ineffective as it is proven effective. Many results are mixed between
those that proved MD is effective and those that proved otherwise. This experimental
study is conducted to investigate the applications of magnetic decsaler (MD) in scale
control, which in particular focuses on the removal of scale. The experiment studied the
effect of different MD configurations on scale removal and the effect of different flow
velocity on scale removal using water as the solution. Domestic MD units were used for
removing scale deposits inside a %" galvanized iron pipe. The efficiency of 4 different
configurations ofMD units were measured. Its efficiency was evaluated by measuring the
weight of the scale removed. Only MD with configuration 1 & 3 were able to remove
100% of calcium carbonate scale. Configuration 1 produced the best results with
threshold value of 26.6427 g/min/Tesla followed by configuration 3 with threshold value
of 7.6566 g/min/Tesla. The studied also demonstrated that the efficiency of MD
application can be increased with increased velocity. The higher the velocity, the more
efficient is MD application.