title: Liquid infused porous surfaces for mineral fouling mitigation.
abstract: Prevention of mineral fouling, known as scale, is a long-standing problem in a wide variety of industrial applications, such as oil production, water treatment, and many others. The build-up of inorganic scale such as calcium carbonate on surfaces and facilities is undesirable as it can result in safety risks and associated flow assurance issues. To date the overwhelming amount of research has mainly focused on chemical inhibition of scale bulk precipitation and little attention has been paid to deposition onto surfaces. The development of novel more environmentally-friendly strategies to control mineral fouling will most probably necessitate a multifunctional approach including surface engineering. In this study, we demonstrate that liquid infused porous surfaces provide an appealing strategy for surface modification to reduce mineral scale deposition. Microporous polypyrrole (PPy) coatings were fabricated onto stainless steel substrates by electrodeposition in potentiostatic mode. Subsequent infusion of low surface energy lubricants (fluorinated oil Fluorinert FC-70 and ionic liquid 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (BMIm)) into the porous coatings results in liquid-repellent slippery surfaces. To assess their ability to reduce surface scaling the coatings were subjected to a calcium carbonate scaling environment and the scale on the surface was quantified using Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). PPy surfaces infused with BMIm (and Fluorinert to a lesser extent) exhibit remarkable antifouling properties with the calcium carbonate deposition reduced by 18 times in comparison to untreated stainless steel. These scaling tests suggest a correlation between the stability of the liquid infused surfaces in artificial brines and fouling reduction efficiency. The current work shows the great potential of such novel coatings for the management of mineral scale fouling.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: T.Charpentier@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Thibaut V J
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Charpentier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neville
authors.affiliation: UTINAM Institute, Department of Chemistry, Université de Franche-Comté, 25010 Besançon, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baudin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6AQ, UK.
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: UTINAM Institute, Department of Chemistry, Université de Franche-Comté, 25010 Besançon, France.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Euvrard
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barker
keywords: Antifouling coatings; Calcium carbonate; Liquid infused surfaces; Mineral scale build-up; Porous polymer coating; Slippery surfaces