DESALINATION

Desalination 107 (1996) 75-81

ELSEVIER

Effect of magnetic treatment on Gulf seawater

Haitham Al-Qahtani
Chemical Engineering Department, University of Bahrain, Isa Town, POB 32038, State of Bahrain
Tel.: +973-681234, Fax: +973-688322

Received 27 June 1995; accepted in revised form 10 January 1996

Abstract

Several samples of seawater (43,000 mg/l) were circulated at a high intensity (7,000 gauss) through a
permanent magnetic tube for several hours at fixed temperature, flow rates, and nitrogen concentration. The pH
and conductivity of all samples were increased during the circulation time. Using Reverse Osmosis (RO), both
treated and untreated solutions were desalinated in a seawater RO unit at several pressures. It was found that the
permeate salt concentrations of the treated solutions were usually lower than that for untreated ones. The effect of
the magnetic field on pH and conductivity were gradually eliminated when the treated solutions were circulated in
absence of the magnetic device.

Keywords: Permanent magnet; Reverse osmosis; Circulation; Seawater

1. Introduction and Gusev [5] found that in the presence of

The subject of magnetic treatment is
controversial. This review summarizes the
studies which may provide some technical
background on the magnetic treatment
process and presents some of the diverse views
prevailing.
Most studies by Russian scientists [l-3]
found that magnetic treatment enhances water
filtration and purification by reducing the
scale formation. They showed that the
magnetic treatment processes accelerated the
coagulation-flocculation of the solid particles
suspended in the water and increased the
crystal formation on the solution bulk instead
of its deposition on the wall surfaces during
the evaporation process [ 1, 3, 41. Martynova
oxides of iron, always found in the industrial
water, circulation process enlarged the center
of the crystals of a certain type of salts after
the magnetic treatment of the water solutions.
Also it was found that the effectiveness of
magnetic treatment depended on several
parameters such as temperature, type of salt,
flow rate, and magnetic intensity [5-71.
On the other hand, Wilkes and Baum [8] as
well as Eliassen, Skind, and Davis [9] reported
that no positive results were achieved when the
magnetic unit was applied. Duffy [lo]
observed that Fe ions retarded calcium
carbonate crystallization and believed that the
scale reduction resulted from accelerated
corrosion caused by the magnetic devices.
Hasson and Bramson [ll] found that the

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76 H. Al-Qahtani / Desalination
magnetic treatment failed to suppress the scale
formation (CaCOs); Sohnel and Mullin [12]
criticized magnetic treatment which they
believed had no hard scientific evidence to
approve its credibility. In addition, Limpert
and Raber [ 131 had also found that the
magnetic treatment devices failed to prevent
the scale formation in experiments in the 3M
industries.
However, Grutsch and McClintock [14]
conducted an extensive literature review on
the magnetic treatment field and concluded
that those approving the techniques were due
to proper application or experimental
procedure. They felt that the failure of
previous researchers to see the effect of
magnetic treatment was due to the improper
use of magnetic equipment such as magnetic
intensity, polarity, material, and others. They
also found that the magnetic treatment
equipment could successfully control the salt
deposition during the circulation of alkaline
cooling (tower) water solutions and the
treatment had positive control over CaCOs
and CaS04 scale. They indicated that the
proper parameter such as water velocity (6
m/s) could yield positive scale control.
Busch et al. [15] were the first to suggest
that the changes in voltage and current of
conducting solutions passing through
magnetic treatment devices might be due to
the effect of Faraday’s law. They applied
several precise magnetic field experiments
using commercial magnetic devices with
normal stainless steel and plastic pipe
housing. They found that the voltage and the
current were both produced when the water
solution passed through an orthogonal
magnetic field. They also postulated that
insoluble iron produced from the magnetic
material might be the centers for calcium
carbonate crystals which they believed might
be the reason for suspension of CaC03 on the
solution rather than depositing on the
plumbing surfaces.
Hydrogen and oxygen atoms of the water
molecules consist of positive and negative
centers, respectively. Since the electronic
distribution of water molecule is asymmetric,
107 (1996) 75-81
an electrical dipole moment is created,
Dissolved salts such as calcium carbonate and
magnesium carbonate exist as dissolved
calcium, magnesium (positive charges), and
carbonate (negative charge) ions where these
ions are also attracted towards the water
molecules. This attraction for water molecules
at the surface results in layers of oriented
water molecules surrounding each salt ion.
According to Faraday’s law, charged particles
moving through a magnetic field with a
velocity perpendicular to the field, create a
localized electrical field perpendicular to both
particle velocity and the magnetic field. If the
ion concentration, velocity, and magnetic
strength are sufficiently large, the Lorentz
effect can be observed. Therefore, whenever a
conductive fluid is passed through a magnetic
field under the right conditions, an induced
electrical current is generated and effectively
oriented the charged particles suspended in
the solution [16-l@.
The following study investigates the effect
of the magnetic field on dissolved ions in
seawater solution by utilizing the sieving
mechanism of the RO membrane which is
able to separate salt ions from water. Changes
in the salt content of the treated and untreated
seawater solutions may provide some
information on the physical and/or chemical
effects of the magnetic device might be on the
ions.
2. Experimental set up and procedure
Several seawater solutions were tested at an
average concentration of 43,000 ppm. For
each sample, half of the seawater solution was
placed in the RO feed tank (Fig. l), and the
other half was kept in a separate tank and was
circulated by a pump through a magnetic
field for several hours where the conductivity
and pH values were recorded every 15 min.
The membrane was always kept clean and
washed with HCl at several pressures after
each run to avoid the contamination from the
previous runs, and the solution temperature
was kept constant at 29°C. The permanent
 H. Al-Qahtani /Desalination IO7 (1996) 75-81 77

Nitrogen
t t
gas
3rculatlon Feed flow
‘ank tank meter

heat ng
elea ent

uRO High

2i-t
pressure
pump
Circul.
Pump
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the reverse
osmosis unit and the circulation tank.

from PVC. The RO system consisted of a 1.1

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the magnetic device where
B and V are the magnetic field and the flow directions,
respectively.
magnetic intensity was 7,000 gauss, its internal
diameter and length were 1.0 in, and 12 in,
respectively (Fig. 2). The linear velocity
inside the magnetic device was about 5 ft/s.
The device was installed vertically to
maintained the perpendicularity of the
magnetic field to the flow directions.
The apparatus consisted of a RO system
and circulation tank (Fig. 1). Nitrogen gas
was purged in the circulation and feed tanks.
All the fittings and tank materials were made
kW ceramic piston pump with maximum flow
rate of 540 l/h. The membrane utilized was a
seawater spiral wound type with length and
internal diameter of 455 and 59 mm,
respectively. The membrane material was
made by FilmTec FT30 (Dow Chemical Co.)
and consisted of three layers, polyester
support web 120 pm, microporous poly-
sulfone interlayer 40 pm, and metaphenylene
diamine ultra thin barrier 2 pm. Conductivity
and pH measurement during circulation
period were monitored directly by on-line
meters. To avoid temperature variation of the
solution during the circulation time, heat
exchanger was placed in the circulation tank
to maintain the temperature at 29°C.
As shown in Fig. 1, when the solution
passed through the membrane, two outlet
streams were obtained: the purified water
(permeate) and the rejected water
(concentrate). To evaluate the ions
transported through the membrane, the salt
passage, Sp%, was determined according to
the following equation:
Sp% = rcp/cfl x 100 (1)
78 H. Al-Qahtani /Desalination 107 (1996) 75-81

where C, and C’,were the permeate and feed showed no significant difference between
concentrations (mg/l). circulated and uncirculated solutions. Both of
their salt passages reduced slightly with
The composition of the Gulf seawater pressure. These experiments were repeated
studied (about 43,000 ppm) is given in Table several times at the same conditions, and
1. results were reproduced. This set of
experiments indicated that the seawater
circulation without the presence of a magnetic
Table 1 device did not affect the pH, conductivity, and
Seawater analysis of the northern coast of Bahrain salt passage significantly.
When the magnetic device was installed in
PH 7.75 the system, both the conductivity and the pH
Conductivity, pmhoslcn 51,700 were increased from 65.5 ms to 68.0 ms and
Dissolved oxygen, ppm -
from 7.75 to 8.14, respectively (Fig. 5). All
Suspended solids, ppm 0.4
Chloride, ppm 23,075
operating conditions such as water solution
Alkalinity P, ppm CaC03 6.2 flow rates, nitrogen concentrations,
Alkalinity M, ppm CaCO3 116 temperature, and others were kept as similar as
Total hardness, ppm CaCO3 7,400 in the previous set of experiments. Both the
Calcium, ppm CaC03 950 conductivity and pH of the circulated
Magnesium, ppm CaC03 6,300
Total dissolved solids, ppm 43,234
solutions increased by an average of 2.5 ms
Silica, ppm SiO2 0.005 and 0.39, respectively. Comparing these
Sulfate, ppm 2,828 results to those shown in Fig. 3, it seems that
Potassium, ppm 450 the magnetic device had influenced the pH
Iron, ppm -
and the conductivity readings. The solution
Copper, ppm
conductivity’s were more influenced with the
magnetic device than the pH. As shown in
Fig. 6, the salt passages of the untreated
seawater solutions were higher than that for
3. Results and discussion the treated ones. Compared to Fig. 4, there
were significant differences in terms of their
The first set of the experiments were Sp% magnitudes when the magnetic device
conducted in the absence of a magnetic was installed. The Cp (permeate salt
device. The purpose of by-passing the concentration mg/l) of the treated and
magnetic field was to investigate the variations untreated solutions were given in Table 2.
in the water solution properties during the
circulation period. There were no significant
differences in pH and conductivity of
Table 2
circulated and uncirculated seawater solutions Variation of pressure (P), permeate concentration (Cp),
(Fig. 3). When the same solutions processed and salt passage (Sp) in RO for seawater at con-
in the RO unit, salt passages values of the centration = 43,000 mg/l with magnetically treated (Tr.)
circulated solutions were close to those of the and untreated (Ut.) solutions at 29’C.
uncirculated ones (Fig. 4). There were slight
increment in the pH and the conductivity ut. Tr. ut. Tr. Ut. Tr
measurements. The conductivity and pH were
increased by 0.4 ms and 0.15, respectively, P, bar 40 40 50 50 60 60
when the solutions circulated for 5 hours. Cp, mg/l 1.18 0.95 1.10 0.71 0.95 0.49
These increments might be due to the release sp, % 2.75 2.20 2.50 1.65 2.20 1.15
of the CO2 from the seawater. Salt passage
 H. Al-Qahtani /Desalination 107 (1996) 75-81 79

Fig. 3. Variation of pH and

conductivity during the circula-
tion of seawater without the
0 1 2 3 4 5 presence of the magnetic device.
limo (hr)

2.6 2.6

2.2 2.2

1.8 - Q- - SpK (after) 1.3

. . 0. SpK (boforo)
1.4 1.4

Fig. 4. Variation of salt passage

1 1 of seawater solutions before and
30 3s 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 after circulation during the ab-
Proosuro (bar)
sence of the magnetic device.

0.2

67.5 -_

67 -

05.5 -y
L

65-f I I I I 7.7 Fig. 5. Variation of conductivity

and pH during the circulation of
0 1 2 3 4 5
the seawater under the presence
lima (hr)
of the magnetic device.
80 H. Al-Qahtani /Desalination 107 (1996) 75-81

I I I I I I I
3 I I I

I.... . .
.. bolora
a
3
2.5 - ‘L...
trestmrnt

0
H\ .‘.P
x
Z 2-
: \

0 aftw
\a
trratment
f 1.5 - \

\
s
I t I I I I I
1 I I I I Fig. 6. Variation of salt passage
of treated and untreated seawater
30 36 40 45 50 65 60 66 70
solutions at several pumping
Prossure (bar)
pressures.
I I I I
I I ’ 6.2

I Fig. 7. Variation of conductivity

7.6
and pH with circulation time after
0 2 4 6 6 10
removing the magnetic device.
Tlmo (hr)

As shown in Table 2, the average Fig. 5, the effect of magnetic device was more
difference of the treated and untreated salt obvious in terms of the conductivity of the
passages was about 35%, where the difference solutions than pH. Therefore, the increment in
increased with the increase in the pressure. the pH values during the presence of the
In this set of experiments, the treated magnetic device and the slight reduction on
seawater solutions were circulated without the its values during the absentee of the magnet
presence of the magnet device. As shown in were most probably due to the release of the
Fig. 7, seawater solutions, which were CO2 from the solutions. The changes in the
circulated in the presence of the magnet salt passage values might be due to the
device, were circulated for several hours physical alteration such as clustering or
without the magnet device. Both the nucleation of certain types of ions. From the
conductivity and pH were decreased during molecular sieve mechanism, this alteration
the circulation time. However, the might hinder the transportation of those ions
conductivity values were more influenced through the microporous structure of the
than those for the pH. membrane. The other mechanism which
Comparing the results of Fig. 7 to those in might describe the effect of magnetic device
 H. Al-Qahtani /Desalination 107 (1996) 75-81 81

is the chemical interaction between certain 131 V. Klassen, Water and Magnet, Nuaka, Moscow,
types of ions which might produce 1973.
[41 V. Klassen, Problems of the Theory and Practical
compounds with larger salt rejection. Further of Magnetic Treatment of Water and Aqueous
investigations should be conducted to explore Systems, Moscow, 1971.
the reasons of the reduction in salt passage [51 0. Martynova and B. Gusev, Vod. Rehim
during the treatment of water solutions by Khimkantr. Parosilovykh Ustanovkokh 4 (1972)
magnet device. 37.
[61 N. Lapotyshikina, I. Balakhove, and G. Ivanova,
Similar experiments were conducted in Vod. Rezhim Khimkovtr. Parosilovykh
Saudi Arabia [19], no significant differences Uslanovkahk 4 (1972) 44.
were found between the treated solutions and [71 B. Speransky, V. Vihev, V. Vinogradov, and Y.
the untreated ones. The major operating Dolya, Prom Energ. 8 (1973) 43.
difference between this study and theirs was VI J. Wilkes and R. Baum, Proceedings 40th Annual
International Water Conference, Engineers’
that they never circulated the solutions. The Society of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA
solutions were being passed from the feed 1979.
source to the magnet device and then to the [91 R. Eliassen, R. Skinde, and W. Davis, Jour.
membrane directly. The second difference AWWA 50 (1958) 1371.
was the chemical treatment applied during DOI E. Duffy, Doctoral Dissertation, Clemson, SC
1977.
their experiments, which is believed that may D. Hasson and D. Bramson, Ind. Eng. Chem.
ill1
effect the nature of the ion and magnetic field Process Design & Development 24 (1985) 588.
interactions, In this work, circulation under a u21 0. Sohnel and J. Mulliin, Chemistry and Industry
magnetic field without chemical treatment was (1988) 356.
an essential requirement to observe the iI31 G. Limpert and J. Raber, Corrosion ‘85, Paper
#250, 1985.
magnetic effect. J. Grutsch and J. McClintock, Corrosion ‘84,
1141
Paper #330, 1984.
1151 K.W. Busch, M.A. Busch, R.E. Darling, J.L.
4. Conclusion McAtee, and D.H. Parker, Proceedings of the 45th
International Water Conference, 1984, pp. 271-
278.
Passing seawater solutions through a
[IhI J.D. Bernardin and S.H. Chan, Magnetic Effects
permanent magnetic device increased the on Simulated Brine Properties Pertaining to
conductivity and the pH of the solutions. Magnetic Water Treatment, Presented at 28th
Separation of salt from water by reverse National Heat transfer Conference, 7191, HTD,
osmosis was enhanced when the solutions Vol. 164, 1991, pp. 109-117.
[I71 W.S. Vicki, Magnetic Fluid Conditioning,
circulated through the magnet device.
Proceeding of the 1991 Speciality Conference
Therefore, It is believed that the magnetic 7191, Reno, NV, Publ. by Amer. Sot. of Civil
device might cause certain physical or/and Engineers, New York, 1991.
chemical changes to the nature of the ions V81 V.A. Boichenko and L.G. Sapogin, Theory of
which might have a lower possibility of Magnetic Water Treatment, Inzenemo-Fizicheskii
Zhumal, (translated) 33 (1977) 350-355.
passing through the membrane.
iI91 W. Abdelrahman, Division of Water Resources &
Environment, Research Institute, King Fahad
University of Petroleum & Minerals.
References
[l] T. Vermeiren, Corrosion 5 (1958) 215.
[2] V. Soloveva, Med. Tekh. 3 (1970).