Antifouling strategies and corrosion control in cooling circuits

Abstract

Biofouling and corrosion phenomena dramatically reduce the functionality of industrial cooling circuits, especially in marine environments. This study underlines the effectiveness of a low level chlorination treatment of seawater to prevent biological fouling and biocorrosion. Reported examples emphasize the reaction of chlorine with bromide, ammonia and organic compounds in seawater and the effectiveness of a treatment performed in such a way to guarantee a residual concentration lower than 3μM at the outlet of the condensers. In a brief review of antifouling strategies, alternatives to chlorination and the monitoring approach able to optimize the treatments are also reported. An integrated, on-line system based on electrochemical probes (Biox system and a linear polarization resistance probe) demonstrated to be sufficient to monitor in real time: corrosion, biofilm growth and chemical treatments based on chlorine or alternative oxidant products (chlorine dioxide, etc.). A careful electrochemical monitoring and the optimized treatments help the plant operators of industrial cooling circuits prevent the decay of the equipment performance, allowing at the same time the control of the halogenated by-products formation.

Keywords: Antifouling; Biofilm monitoring; Chlorination; Copper alloys; Microbial corrosion.