Polymers are widely used to prevent scaling in various applications. Whilst acrylic acid and maleic acid are often used for homo and copolymers, acrolein is unique as a monomer for polymeric scale inhibitors. The polymerization can be carried out by using hydrogen peroxide as a polymerization initiator. The properties of the resulting co and terpolymers enable a wide range of applications, e.g. water treatment, detergents, oil production, reverse osmosis, sea water desalination. Laboratory studies were conducted to profile the
performance of acrolein based scale inhibitors and to compare its performance to commonly used inhibitors.
Keywords: polymer, scale inhibitor, acrolein, acrylic acid, maleic acid, vinyl sulfonate, hydrogen peroxide, water treatment, detergents, oil production, reverse osmosis, sea water desalination