Numerical simulation and experimental study of emulsification in a narrow-gap homogenizer

Measuring Interfacial Tension of Emulsions in Situ by Microfluidics

Interfacial tension is a key parameter affecting industrially relevant properties of emulsions, such as morphology and stability. Although several methods are available to measure interfacial tension, they are based on generation of droplets starting from separate emulsion components and cannot directly probe the interfacial tension of an emulsion as such. Here, a novel microfluidic tensiometry device to measure interfacial tension of a water-in-oil emulsion in situ as a function of surfactant concentration is presented. In our approach, interfacial tension is obtained from a quantitative analysis of the deformation of individual emulsion droplets under steady state shear flow in microfluidic channels. The technique is validated by comparing the results with experimental data obtained by the pendant drop method in a broad range of interfacial tension values. A very good agreement is found, and an estimate of the surfactant critical micellar concentration (CMC) is also obtained. The proposed microfluidic setup can be used even at high surfactant concentrations, where the measurement is made more challenging by sample viscoelasticity, thus providing a powerful tool to determine the interfacial tension of complex systems in an extended concentration range. The technique could be also used for in-line monitoring of emulsion processing.

Emulsification in turbulent flow

Systematic experimental study of the effects of several factors on the breakage rate constant, k(BR), during emulsification in turbulent flow is performed. These factors are the drop size, interfacial tension, viscosity of the oil phase, and rate of energy dissipation in the flow. As starting oil-water premixes we use emulsions containing monodisperse oil drops, which have been generated by the method of membrane emulsification. By passing these premixes through a narrow-gap homogenizer, working in turbulent regime of emulsification, we study the evolution of the number concentration of the drops with given diameter, as a function of the emulsification time. The experimental data are analyzed by a kinetic scheme, which takes into account the generation of drops of a given size (as a result of breakage of larger drops) and their disappearance (as a result of their own breakage process). The experimental results for k(BR) are compared with theoretical expressions from the literature and their modifications. The results for all systems could be described reasonably well by an explicit expression, which is a product of: (a) the frequency of collisions between drops and turbulent eddies of similar size, and (b) the efficiency of drop breakage, which depends on the energy required for drop deformation. The drop deformation energy contains two contributions, originating from the drop surface extension and from the viscous dissipation inside the breaking drop. In the related subsequent paper, the size distribution of the daughter drops formed in the process of drop breakage is analyzed for the same experimental systems.

Emulsification in turbulent flow

Systematic experimental study of the effects of several factors on the mean and maximum drop sizes during emulsification in turbulent flow is performed. These factors include: (1) rate of energy dissipation, epsilon; (2) interfacial tension, sigma; (3) viscosity of the oil phase, eta(D); (4) viscosity of the aqueous phase, eta(C); and (5) oil volume fraction, Phi. The emulsions are prepared by using the so-called "narrow-gap homogenizer" working in turbulent regime of emulsification. The experiments are performed at high surfactant concentration to avoid the effect of drop-drop coalescence. For emulsions prepared in the inertial turbulent regime, the mean and the maximum drop sizes increase with the increase of eta(D) and sigma, and with the decrease of epsilon. In contrast, Phi and eta(C) affect only slightly the mean and the maximum drop sizes in this regime of emulsification. These results are described very well by a theoretical expression proposed by Davies [Chem. Eng. Sci. 40 (1985) 839], which accounts for the effects of the drop capillary pressure and the viscous dissipation inside the breaking drops. The polydispersity of the emulsions prepared in the inertial regime of emulsification does not depend significantly on sigma and epsilon. However, the emulsion polydispersity increases significantly with the increase of oil viscosity, eta(D). The experiments showed also that the inertial turbulent regime is inappropriate for emulsification of oils with viscosity above ca. 500 mPa s, if drops of micrometer size are to be obtained. The transition from inertial to viscous turbulent regime of emulsification was accomplished by a moderate increase of the viscosity of the aqueous phase (above 5 mPa s in the studied systems) and/or by increase of the oil volume fraction, Phi>0.6. Remarkably, emulsions with drops of micrometer size are easily formed in the viscous turbulent regime of emulsification, even for oils with viscosity as high as 10,000 mPa s. In this regime, the mean drop size rapidly decreases with the increase of eta(C) and Phi (along with the effects of epsilon, sigma, and eta(D), which are qualitatively similar in the inertial and viscous regimes of emulsification). The experimental results are theoretically described and discussed by using expressions from the literature and their modifications (proposed in the current study).

Emulsification in turbulent flow:

Systematic set of experiments is performed to clarify the effects of several factors on the size distribution of the daughter drops, which are formed as a result of drop breakage during emulsification in turbulent flow. The effects of oil viscosity, etaD, interfacial tension, sigma, and rate of energy dissipation in the turbulent flow, epsilon, are studied. As starting oil-water premixes we use emulsions containing monodisperse oil drops, which have been generated by membrane emulsification. By passing these premixes through a narrow-gap homogenizer, working in turbulent regime of emulsification, we monitor the changes in the drop-size distribution with the emulsification time. The experimental data are analyzed by using a new numerical procedure, which is based on the assumption (supported by the experimental data) that the probability for formation of daughter drops with diameter smaller than the maximum diameter of the stable drops, d<d(MAX), is proportional to the drop number concentrations in the final emulsions, which are obtained after a long emulsification time. We found that the breakage of a single "mother" drop leads to the formation of multiple daughter drops, and that the number and size distribution of these daughter drops depend strongly on the viscosity of the dispersed phase. Different scaling laws are found to describe the experimental results for the oils of low and high viscosity. The obtained results for the daughter drop-size distribution are in a reasonably good agreement with the experimental results reported by other authors. In contrast, the comparison with several basic model functions, proposed in the literature, does not show good agreement and the possible reasons are discussed. The proposed numerical procedure allows us to describe accurately the evolution of all main characteristics of the drop-size distribution during emulsification, such as the number and volume averaged diameters, and the distributive and cumulative functions by number and by volume. The procedure allowed us to clarify the relative importance of the drop breakage rate constant and of the daughter drop-size distribution for the evolution of the various mean diameters.