Effect of surfactants on the interfacial tension and emulsion formation between water and carbon dioxide
- Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
The lowering of the interfacial tension ({gamma}) between water and carbon dioxide by various classes of surfactants is reported and used to interpret complementary measurements of the capacity, stability, and average drop size of water-in-CO{sub 2} emulsions. {gamma} is lowered from {approximately}20 to {approximately}2 mN/m for the best poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide) (PPO-b-PEO-b-PPO) and PeO-b-PPO-b-PEO Pluronic triblock copolymers, 1.4 mN/m for a poly(butylene oxide)-b-PEO copolymer, 0.8 mN/m for a perfluoropolyether (PEPE) ammonium carboxylate and 0.2 mN/m for PDMS{sub 24}-g-EO{sub 22}. The hydrophilic-CO{sub 2}-philic balance (HCB) of the triblock Pluronic and PDMS-g-PEO-PPO surfactants is characterized by the CO{sub 2}-to-water distribution coefficient and V-shaped plots of log {gamma} vs wt % EO. A minimum in {gamma} is observed for the optimum HCB. As the CO{sub 2}-philicity of the surfactant tail is increased, the molecular weight of the hydrophilic segment increases for an optimum HCB. The stronger interactions on both sides of the interface lead to a lower {gamma}. Consequently, more water was emulsified for the PDMS-based copolymers than either the PPO- or PBO-based copolymers.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Texas Univ., Austin, TX (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-96ER14664
- OSTI ID:
- 316337
- Journal Information:
- Langmuir, Vol. 15, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: 19 Jan 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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