Global awareness of the impact of chemicals on the environment has been growing over a
number of years. This has led to the demand for environmentally responsible water treatment
programs with low impact on the environment. The backbone of traditional water treatment
programs rely on phosphorus and heavy metals to control scale and corrosion and typically do
not biodegrade significantly. The discharge of such chemicals is coming under regulatory
pressure and their use is being increasingly restricted.
This paper describes a new polymaleic acid based polymer with low toxicity and higher
biodegradability than traditional polymers which can be used in environmentally sensitive
areas. Laboratory data is presented which highlights excellent performance characteristics in
jar and pilot cooling tower tests and shows improved performance over a commercial ‘green’
inhibitor.
Keywords: Calcium carbonate, scale inhibitor, jar test, pilot cooling tower, water chemistry,
maleic acid, polymer, polyaspartate, formulations