Kinetics of oil dispersion in the absence and presence of block copolymers
- Izmir Inst. of Tech. (Turkey). Dept. of Chemistry
- Dokuz Eyluel Univ., Izmir (Turkey). Mining Engineering Dept.
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering
Dispersion of oil into fine droplets is important in many applications, such as flotation, selective agglomeration, solvent extraction, wastewater treatment, and oil drilling. Size distribution of oil droplets determines the rate of mass transfer between the continuous and the disperse phase and the outcome of the process in these applications. A phenomenological model proposed describes droplet breakup in the turbulently agitated lean oil-in-water dispersions and provides a correlation between the median droplet size in an agitated vessel of standard geometry and the time of dispersion. It was assumed that the droplet breakup takes place in the dispersion-only region and coalescence is negligible. The model described the data from this study and the literature quite satisfactorily under these conditions. The effect of adding triblock PEO/PPO/PEO copolymeric surfactants on the dispersion kinetics of oil was also investigated. Addition of surfactant reduced the median oil droplet size significantly, and the extent of this reduction was a strong function of surfactant concentration. Application of the model on these data demonstrated that the change in the median droplet size could be divided into two distinct regions. The breakage rate was high initially, most probably due to continuous adsorption of surfactant molecules at the oil/water interface. A lower breakage rate was attained at longer times, as the surfactant molecules were depleted from the solution. The time of transition between the two was affected strongly by the concentration of the surfactant added. Furthermore, the time of addition of the surfactant did not affect the final droplet-size distribution in the system.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC22-92PC92162; FG22-92PC92543
- OSTI ID:
- 696635
- Journal Information:
- AIChE Journal, Vol. 45, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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