Abstract Calcium carbonate is considered as the most frequent scale commonly occurring in cooling water systems. To reduce calcium carbonate scale in an environment–friendly way, a copolymer consisting of acrylic acid (AA)-acrylamide (AM)-polypropylene glycol and maleic anhydride (PPGAZMA) was developed to inhibit this phenomenon. The structure of the AA-AM-PPGAZMA was characterized by FT-IR method. The performance of AA-AM-PPGAZMA inhibition process was evaluated from static experiment method. Results indicated that excellent ability to control inorganic minerals, with approximately 71.1% calcium carbonate inhibition under the optimum conditions. Also the effect of the copolymer addition on the crystals of calcium carbonate scales morphology was examined through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM illustrated that great changes in the size and morphology of the calcium carbonate scales took place under the influence of AA-AM-PPGAZMA. SEM and XRD results identify that not only the scales shape and size changed but also that the scales forms altered to an extent.