Elemental sulfur dispersant to control fouling in water systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10669172-B2
Application number	US-201816106746-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2018
Priority date	Aug 23, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

A composition and method for dispersing sulfur, cleaning sulfur deposits, and minimizing foaming in an aqueous system is disclosed. The method may include adding a first sulfur dispersant to process water containing sulfur and dispersing the sulfur. The first sulfur dispersant may include a C 5 -C 25 alkyl polyglycoside. A second sulfur dispersant may also be added to the process water. The second sulfur dispersant may include a polymer of acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of dispersing sulfur, comprising:
adding a first sulfur dispersant to process water containing elemental sulfur, wherein the first sulfur dispersant comprises a C 5 -C 25 alkyl polyglycoside; and
dispersing the elemental sulfur.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a second sulfur dispersant to the process water.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second sulfur dispersant comprises a polymer comprising acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising blending the first sulfur dispersant and the second sulfur dispersant to form a dispersant mixture before addition to the process water.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the dispersant mixture comprises from about 5% to about 95% by weight of the first sulfur dispersant and from about 95% to about 5% by weight of the second sulfur dispersant.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding an anti-foaming agent to the process water.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the anti-foaming agent is selected from a C 5 -C 25 alkyl alcohol, a C 5 -C 25 alkyl alcohol ethoxylate, monobasic aluminum stearate, stearic acid, polydimethylsiloxane, sorbitan monostearate, hydrated silica, ethoxylated sorbitan monostearate, xanthan gum, amorphous silica, and any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the anti-foaming agent comprises polydimethylsiloxane and sorbitan monostearate.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sulfur dispersant comprises a C 10-16 alkyl polyglycoside.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sulfur dispersant comprises a C 10-16 alkyl polyglycoside and a C 8-10 alkyl polyglycoside.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the polymer comprises about 50-70 wt % acrylic acid and about 30-50 wt % 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the polymer comprises a weight average molecular weight of about 5,000 Da to about 50,000 Da.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sulfur dispersant is added to the process water in an amount of about 1 ppm to about 1000 ppm.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second sulfur dispersant is added to the process water in an amount of about 2 ppm to about 100 ppm.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sulfur dispersant is added to the process water in an amount of about 1 ppm to about 10 ppm.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the process water is geothermal cooling water or geothermal condensate.

17. A method of dispersing sulfur in geothermal cooling water, comprising:
adding a first sulfur dispersant comprising C 5 -C 25 alkyl polyglycoside to the geothermal cooling water containing elemental sulfur;
adding a second sulfur dispersant comprising a polymer comprising acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid to the geothermal cooling water; and
dispersing the elemental sulfur.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first sulfur dispersant is added before the second sulfur dispersant, after the second sulfur dispersant, and/or as a mixture with the second sulfur dispersant.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Mantri Dinesh
• Rodman David
• Gill Jasbir S

Classifications

• C02F2303/22

  Eliminating or preventing deposits, scale removal, scale prevention (C02F1/042, C02F1/4602, C02F5/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• C02F5/12

  containing nitrogen (C02F5/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C09K8/532

  Sulfur · CPC title

• C01B17/10 Primary

  Finely divided sulfur, e.g. sublimed sulfur, flowers of sulfur · CPC title

• C02F1/68 Primary

  by addition of specified substances, e.g. trace elements, for ameliorating potable water (medicinal water A61K) · CPC title