In the region of Tata (southeast of Morocco), groundwater is the only resource for drinking and agriculture. However, the formation of mineral deposits, known as scaling, inside groundwater distribution networks and household facilities is significantly observed in this oasis area. This phenomenon leads to technical problems and substantial economic losses. The present study aims to perform a complete analysis of the natural scale extracted from the obstructed pipes in Tata city. Physicochemical analyses of water are first carried out. The elemental composition, crystalline phases, and morphologies of the extracted scale are then characterized by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with an EDXS (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy) analytical techniques. The results of physicochemical analyses reveal that Tata's groundwater is a very hard-brackish type of water and mainly dominated by Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42-, and HCO3- ion content. This strong hardness and slightly high mineralization are mainly affected by the nature of the geology of the region, which is composed essentially of CaO, MgO, and SiO2 elements. The XRF, EDXS, TGA, and TDA analyses show that calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is the major element in the studied scale sample with a percentage of 94.51%. The XRD, FTIR, and SEM techniques show that the crystalline structure of the studied scale is a mixture of 32% of Mg-calcite (Ca5·40Mg0·60C6·0O18.0) and 68% of aragonite (CaCO3) with rhombohedral and needle morphologies, respectively. The obtained results have provided data that can be used to highlight a new anti-scaling process in the Tata area.
Keywords: Calcium carbonate; Characterization; Groundwater; Scaling; Tata.
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