High-performance polymer coatings for carbon steel heat exchanger tubes in geothermal environments

The most critical issue in developing thermal conductive coatings for the interior surfaces of heat exchanger tubes made from mild carbon steel (MCS), which are used in geothermal power plants at temperatures ranging from 110° to 89°C, is the deposition of scales. These scales, induced by the brine, chemically adhere to the coating surfaces. One of the major factors governing the formation of a strong interfacial bond at interfaces between the coatings and scales was the brine-promoted hydrothermal oxidation of the coatings. In seeking coating unsusceptible to hydrothermal oxidation, two semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymers, polyphenylenesulfide (PPS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-blended PPS, were applied as interior surface coatings to the zinc phosphated MCS tubes. The PPS coating surfaces suffered some oxidation caused by their chemical affinity for FeCl₂ in geothermal brine. FeCl₂-promoted oxidation of PPS surfaces not only incorporated more oxygen into them, generating a sulfide sulfone sulfonic acid conformational transformation within the PPS, but also caused the disintegration of PPS, yielding fragmental polychloroaryl compound and ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄) derivatives. The FeSO₄ reaction product formed at the interfaces between the scale and PPS coating was soluble in water, so that the coatings could be easily removed by highly pressurized water. The oxidation of PPS was considerably inhibited by blending PTFE into it, forming coating surface unsusceptible to hydrothermal oxidation reactions with hot brine. The major reason for such inhibition of oxidation was the formation of a chemically inert PTFE layer segregated from the PPS layer at the outermost surface site of the coating. Hence, the scale easily flaked off from the PTFE-blended PPS coating surfaces. This characteristic of surface was similar to that of the stainless steel surfaces. Nevertheless, both PPS and PTFE-blended PPS coatings can be classified as scale-free coatings.