History of the Cooling Water Treatment

Let us to remind that the oldest use (that we know) of a corrosion inhibitor dates back to the year 1905, when it was found that arsenic was capable to prevent the dissolving of iron in the hydrochloric acid. The first mention concerning an inhibitor for water dates from 1922: some ppm of sodium silicate was added to water of domestic use in order to avoid corrosion of the piping made of lead. The first mention concerning cooling water treatment dates back to 1924, when 200 ppm of sodium dichromate and 50 ppm of sodium hydroxide were used in a refrigeration plant. Thus, as we can see it, the history of the cooling water treatment covers less than 100 years. Most of the significant developments in this field occured in the course of the professional career of many chemical engineers which are still in office.