Dendrimers have attracted immense attention during the last decade due to their interesting properties both from a basic and an applied research viewpoint. Encapsulation of metal nanoparticles for catalysis, drug delivery and light harvesting are only some applications of dendrimers that are breaking new ground. A novel application of dendrimer technology is described in the present paper that relates to industrial water treatment. Industrial water systems often suffer from undesirable inorganic deposits. These can form either in the bulk or on metallic surfaces, such as heat exchangers or pipelines. Silica NOD scale formation and deposition is a major problem in high-silica-containing cooling waters. Scale prevention rather than removal is highly desired. In this paper, benchtop screening tests on various silica inhibition chemistries are reported, with emphasis on materials with a dendrimeric structure. Specifically, the inhibition properties of commercially available STARBURST (R) polyaminoamide (PAMAM) dendrimers generations 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 are investigated in detail together with other commonly-used scale inhibitors. Experimental results show that inhibition efficiency largely depends on structural features of PAMAM dendrimers such as generation number and nature of the end groups. PAMAM dendrimers are effective inhibitors of silica scale growth at 40 ppm dosage levels. PAMAM dendrimers also act as silica nucleators, forming SiO2-PAMAM composites. This occurs because the SiO2 formed by incomplete inhibition interacts with cationic PAMAM-1 and -2. The general scope of silica formation and inhibition in industrial waters is also discussed. (c) 2005 Society of Chemical Industry