摘要 |
Natural gas processing equipment and sorption media such as charcoal, silica or alumina, contaminated with adherent scale deposits of alkaline earth metal sulfates may include radioactive components, especially radium sulfate and thorium sulfate, which render the equipment radioactive. The scale is removed from the processing equipment by washing with an aqueous chemical composition including a polyaminopolycarboxylic acid such as EDTA or DEPA as a chelant in combination with a synergist, preferably oxalate or monocarboxylate acid anion such as salicylate. The washing may be carried out with the equipment in place or by immersion of the equipment in a body of the solution in a suitable treatment tank.
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