Interfacial tensions and aggregate structure in pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether/oil/water microemulsion systems

Langmuir ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1210-1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Aveyard ◽  
B. P. Binks ◽  
P. D. I. Fletcher
1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 3031-3037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Aveyard ◽  
Bernard P. Binks ◽  
Thomas A. Lawless ◽  
Jeremy Mead

Oil/water interfacial tensions are reported for systems containing pure alkane, aqueous sodium chloride, and a pure anionic surfactant, either Aerosol OT or p-dihexylbenzene sodium sulphonate (DHBS). Evidence is produced to support the claim that monolayer adsorption at the oil/water interface can produce ultralow tensions (~ 1 µN m−1), and that the presence at the interface of a third, surfactant-rich phase is not necessary. The aggregation of DHBS and its distribution between oil and aqueous phases of various salinities have been investigated. It has been confirmed that the behaviour of DHBS in these respects is similar to that of Aerosol OT, as might be expected from its molecular structure. The sizes of microemulsion droplets in equilibrium with planar adsorbed monolayers have been determined, and related to the tensions of the plane oil/aqueous phase interfaces using simple existing theory.


1981 ◽  
Vol 21 (05) ◽  
pp. 593-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ruckenstein

Abstract From a consideration of the thermodynamic stability of microemulsions, one can establish a relation between the interfacial tension y at the surface of the globules and the derivative, with respect to their radius re, of the entropy of dispersion of the globules in the continuous medium. Expressions for the entropy of dispersion are used to show that gamma is approximately proportional to kT/r2e, where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the absolute temperature. Since the environment of the interface between the microemulsion and the excess dispersed medium is expected to be similar to that at the surface of the globules, these expressions are used to evaluate the interfacial tension between microemulsion and excess dispersed medium. Values between 10 and 10 dyne/cm that decrease with increasing radii are obtained, in agreement with the range found experimentally by various authors. The origin of the very small interfacial tensions rests ultimately in the adsorption of surfactant and cosurfactant on the interface between phases. The effect on the interfacial tension of fluctuations from one type of microemulsion to the other, which may occur near the phase inversion point, is discussed. Introduction The system composed of oil, water, surfactant, cosurfactant, and salt exhibits interesting phase equilibria. For sufficiently large concentrations of surfactant, a single phase can be formed either as a microemulsion or as a liquid crystal. In contrast, at moderate surfactant concentrations, two or three phases can coexist. For moderate amounts of salt (NaCl), an oil phase is in equilibrium with a water-continuous microemulsion, whereas for high salinity, an oil-continuous microemulsion coexists with a water phase. At intermediate salinity, a middle phase (probably a microemulsion) composed of oil, water, surfactants, and salt forms between excess water and oil phases. Extremely low interfacial tensions are found between the different phases, with the lowest occurring in the three-phase region. These systems have attracted attention because of their possible application to tertiary oil recovery. It has been shown that the displacement of oil is most effective at very low interfacial tensions.Microemulsions have been investigated with various experimental techniques, such as low-angle X-ray diffraction, light scattering, ultracentrifugation, electron microscopy, and viscosity measurements. These have shown that the dispersed phase consists of spherical droplets almost uniform in size. While it is reasonable to assume that the microemulsions coexisting with excess oil or water contain spherical globules of the dispersed medium, the structure of the middle-phase microemulsion is more complex. Experimental evidence obtained by means of ultracentrifugation indicates, however, that at the lower end of salinity the middle phase contains globules of oil in water, while at the higher end the middle phase is oil continuous. A phase inversion must occur, at an intermediate salinity, from a water-continuous to an oil-continuous microemulsion. The free energies of the two kinds of microemulsions are equal at the inversion point. Since their free energy of formation from the individual components is very small, small fluctuations, either of thermal origin or due to external perturbations, may produce changes from one type to the other in the vicinity of the inversion point. As a consequence, near this point, it is possible that the middle phase is composed of a constantly changing mosaic of regions of both kinds of microemulsions. SPEJ P. 593^


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 953-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjun Guo ◽  
Di Pu ◽  
Rusen Feng ◽  
Yachun Xiong

1988 ◽  
Vol 266 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Selcan ◽  
K. K�hler ◽  
G. H. Findenegg

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
Junling Tan ◽  
Yiding Shen ◽  
Xiaojuan Lai ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Haina Li ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-320
Author(s):  
Gerard P. Canevari ◽  
Jan Bock ◽  
Max Robbins

ABSTRACT An initial basic study focused on the interaction between dispersant surfactants and the oil-water interface. In essence, the study identified criteria to explain why a good dispersant is effective and why a poor dispersant is ineffective. The dynamic behavior of the oil-water interface, after the addition of the dispersant, was continuously monitored by a modified Wilhelmy plate device. This procedure provided much insight on the impact of the dispersant at the oil-water interface. One key finding of this study concerned the conditions for achieving very low interfacial tensions. It is known in microemulsion technology that a microemulsion formed by specific surfactants exhibits ultra-low interfacial tension against either oil or water. Microemulsion phase behavior studies then established that some specific surfactants, which form a certain type of microemulsion, are also highly effective dispersants, more effective than current state-of-the-art products. This improvement results in the formation of much finer dispersed oil droplets generated by a very minimum and lower level of energy. This paper will review the results of the basic study and the subsequent formulation of an improved dispersant. Laboratory and field data evaluating and supporting the improved overall performance will be presented.


Langmuir ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 1505-1510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Nave ◽  
Julian Eastoe ◽  
Richard K. Heenan ◽  
David Steytler ◽  
Isabelle Grillo

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