Synthesis and properties of a new polycarboxylic acid multi‐polymer scale inhibitor suitable for industrial circulating water

Abstract Multipolymer TPEG‐IA‐AMPS was synthesized by free‐radical polymerization using isopentenol polyoxyethylene ether (TPEG), itaconic acid (IA) and 2‐acrylamide‐2‐methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) as monomers. In addition, the monomers and the synthesized multipolymer were characterized and analyzed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H‐NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). And then, the control variable method and static scale inhibition method were used to measure the influence of different synthesis conditions on the calcium carbonate scale inhibition performance of multipolymer, and the optimum synthesis conditions of terpolymer were determined. Meanwhile, the influence of different factors on the scale inhibition performance of calcium carbonate scale and calcium sulfate scale under the optimum synthesis conditions was also explored. Moreover, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and x‐ray diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the scale inhibition mechanism. The results show that the synthesized multipolymer TPEG‐IA‐AMPS is suitable for industrial recycling wastewater in harsh environment such as high alkalinity, high hardness and high PH.