Plant-derived extracts for mitigating scale formation in pipelines and industrial systems: a review of status

The application of plant materials in scaling industries is necessary, considering the environmental effects and cost implications of conventional anti-scalants. Plant materials are readily available, and most time, over 20% are disposed of as waste. Deploying its extracts will reduce the heavy cost incurred by procuring alternative scale inhibitors, improve farmers’ income, and reduce environmental fouls. To establish a technology for controlling or handling corrosion or scale depositions on solid surfaces, it is very important to understand the reactions of some parameters and their properties. Different search engines such as Scopus, Web of Science, were used to obtain the necessary data on different scaling parameters (surface roughness, wettability of the surface, the crystallization kinetics on the surface, deposition, surface induction time, the surface scaling based on the flow regime and the saturation rate) regarding the utilization of plant materials in industrial-scale deposition management. This literature assessment revealed that plant materials have substantial inhibitory tendency against the growth of CaCO3, CaSO4, and BaSO4 scales on any solid surface, with some of them showing up to 100 % inhibiting efficiency. Agro-materials that are reportedly rich in phenolics, tannins, alkaloids, saponins, and other foaming agents have a greater inhibiting tendency.