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THE EVOLUTION OF SYNTHETICALLY PRECIPITATED COPPER SOLIDS
Citation:
MELTON, L. AND D. A. LYTLE. THE EVOLUTION OF SYNTHETICALLY PRECIPITATED COPPER SOLIDS. Presented at US EPA WORKSHOP ON INORGANIC CONTAMINANT ISSUES, CINCINNATI, OH, August 21 - 23, 2007.
Description:
The objective of this study was to explore the effect of water quality, particularly chloride and sulfate, on copper mineral formation. Copper-sulfate and chloride compounds are often found on the surface of copper pipes in drinking water distribution systems. When attempting to synthetically precipitate and identify these solids, they exhibit poor crystalline formation. Use of x-ray diffraction (XRD) for elemental mapping often yields no peaks (amorphous) results due to small crystal size and structure. Use of scanning electron microscope (SEM) to capture morphology changes over time, can enhance current knowledge on copper corrosion scale in copper pipelines. This allows possible improvement in strategies to reduce copper levels in consumer tapwater.