Abstract: A water soluble copolymer has been prepared with such monomers as maleic anhydride (MA)，acrylic acid (AA) and sodium methylallylsulfonate (MAS) by adopting water as solvent and potassium persulphate as initiator. The scale inhibition performance of the copolymer has been comprehensively studied. Moreover, the effect factors, i.e., solution pH, calcium concentration, temperature and copolymer dosage, have been optimized to evaluate the feasibility of the copolymer in the scale inhibition field. Results indicate that the copolymer shows excellent scale inhibition efficiency for the CaCO₃ and Ca₃(PO₄)₂ scales, which prevails over other commercial products. And the inhibition rates for the CaCO₃ and Ca₃(PO₄)₂ scales could reach 98.2% and 92.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the product can be applied in some critical conditions, e.g., high temperature and calcium concentration which not exceeds 250mg/L.

Key words: copolymer, scale inhibition, maleic anhydride, acrylic acid, sodium methylallysulfonate