RESEARCH ARTICLE Identifying effects of pipe material, hydraulic condition, and water composition on elemental accumulation in pipe corrosion scales Manjie Li 1 & Zhaowei Liu 1 & Yongcan Chen 1,2 & Mingdong Zhang 3 Received: 7 March 2019 /Revised: 24 April 2019 /Accepted: 6 May 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Identification of the accumulation mechanism of major elements on pipe surface is essential to investigate the development of corrosion scales and co-occurrence of trace inorganic contaminants. In this study, corrosion scale samples were collected from old, corroded iron pipes made of different materials and exposed to different water qualities and operation conditions. Elemental composition of these scales was determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Cumulative occurrence analysis, Q- style hierarchical cluster analysis (CA), and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted to ascertain major elements typical for corrosion scales and to estimate the dominant influencing factor to each elemental constituent. The major elements in the examined scales are Fe, C, Zn, Si, Ca, Al, and S in the descending prevalence. Their occurrences are influenced by an interactive effect. Pipe material imposes a significant effect on the accumulation of Fe, Zn, and Ca in corrosion scales; water composition can account for the presence of Si, Al, and S in this study; hydraulic condition is identified as the primary factor influencing the occurrence of C and Ca. Q-style CA and PCA are verified practicable for data interpretation and identification of dominant factors influencing scale characteristics. Keywords Corrosion scales . Elemental accumulation . Pipe material . Hydraulic condition . Water composition . Cluster analysis . Principal component analysis Introduction Corrosion scales formed on iron pipe surface are an important layer in water distribution systems, since contaminants such as heavy metals, natural organic matters (NOM), and microbes can be accumulated and enriched in them and released to contaminate the drinking water (Lytle et al. 2004; Sarin et al. 2004a, b; Imran et al. 2005, 2006; Gerke et al. 2008, 2013; Schock et al. 2008; Teng et al. 2008; Kim and Herrera 2010; Peng et al. 2010, 2012; Wang et al. 2014; Li et al. 2016; Trueman and Gagnon 2016; Wang et al. 2017; Shams et al. 2019). While heavy metals are more harmful in terms of drinking water quality, common components in corrosion scales such as iron(III) compounds and manganese oxides have been shown to adsorb, intercept, and occlude Pb, Cd, Ni, and other trace inorganic contaminants (Lytle et al. 2004; Kim et al. 2011; McFadden et al. 2011; Peng and Korhsin 2011; Peng et al. 2013; Masters and Edwards 2015). In con- sequence, identifying the accumulation mechanism of com- mon major elements in corrosion scales can provide valuable insight into the co-occurrence of heavy metal contaminants, which is indispensable to water quality protection. Prior research has confirmed Fe, O, and C as the predom- inant components in iron corrosion scales, followed by vary- ing levels of Ca, S, Mn, Zn, P, Mg, Al, and other trace metal elements (Lin et al. 2001; Sarin et al. 2001; Tang et al. 2006; Peng et al. 2010; Li et al. 2016, 2018). Adsorption, occlusion, and co-precipitation account for the occurrence of Ca, S, Si, Al, and Cl in corrosion scales, with these elements initially originating from the source water and/or water treatment Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05401-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Zhaowei Liu liuzhw@tsinghua.edu.cn 1 State Key Laboratory Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China 2 Southwest University of Science and Technology, 59 Qinglong Road, Mianyang 621010, Sichuan, China 3 School of Software, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05401-w