Patent ID: 8109161

Claim:
A method of measuring solids deposits in a gas environment comprising: initially measuring the weight gain due to water condensation on a metal-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) in a QCM probe within a high pressure gas chamber of the gas environment; subsequent to the initial measuring, measuring the condensation rate and the metal oxidation rate during a condensation period of the condensation-evaporation (CE) cycle; finally measuring the solids deposits weight gain of the metal-coated QCM after water evaporation of the CE cycle; determining the final solids deposits weight gain during each CE cycle; continuously measuring the solids deposits weight gain of the metal-coated QCM during at least one subsequent CE cycle; and determining a cumulative solids deposits rate; where the weight measurements are conducted at a condition selected from the group consisting of: constant (ΔT) and a controlled variable temperature differential (ΔT=f(t)) between the high pressure gas chamber and the QCM probe.