Interfacial phenomena in oil-water dispersions

The interfacial phenomena of oil-water dispersions have been studied in different polydispersed systems resulting in an improved understanding of the physical phenomena occurring in such systems. Models for different liquid-liquid systems have been developed and/or modified, as follows:; A phase inversion prediction model, based on an interfacial energy balance, for turbulent dispersions is proposed, which combines population balance approach and break-up and coalescence models available from the literature. The proposed model has been validated against experimental data and provides a tool to predict dispersed flow boundary transitions for different applications including pipe flow and static mixers.; A model is proposed which combines the thermodynamic aspects of droplet deformation with a population balance approach, for the analysis of droplets interaction in dispersions. This model allows investigation of the effects of surfactants, electrostatic interactions and other interaction forces in different dispersed systems. The study developed by Zhang et al. (1995) for electrostatic coalescence has been modified to include the effect of laminar shear collisions, utilizing the population balance approach. Comparisons against experimental data from the literature show good agreement.; A batch separation model is proposed which applies a population balance approach to characterize the separation profiles that occur during batch separation and to predict the initial droplet size distribution and its temporal evolution. The model considers the effect of interfacial coalescence for a distribution of droplets and the effect of electrolytes. Comparison against experimental data from Gomez-Markovich (2006) shows very good agreement.