Effects of Magnetic Field on Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Precipitation of Calcium Carbonate

Abstract

In this study, fast controlled precipitation (FCP) and chronoamperometry (CA) methods were performed to evaluate the influence of the magnetic treatment at 0.70 T, upon the scale formation in synthetic solutions (hardness 25 °F), exposed to a static magnetic field for different exposure times. According to FCP results, homogeneous CaCO 3 precipitation rates in treated solution were lower than those in the absence of the magnetic field. It has been found that the memory effect can last up to 24 h after the magnetic treatment even if it decreases over time. As purpose of comparison, CA method was applied to investigate the influence of the magnetic treatment on heterogeneous CaCO 3 precipitation. The magnetic field effect increased with the increasing exposure time. The obtained scale, characterized by scanning electronic microscopy and Xray diffraction, was formed by a mixture of calcite and aragonite in the presence of magnetic field.