Drop interface coalescence in liquid-liquid system

Abstract EN

This investigation is a study of the length of time where drops can exist at an oil-water interface before coalescence takes place with a bulk of the same phase as the drops.

Many factors affecting the time of coalescence were studied in this investigation which included: dispersed phase flow rate, continuous phase height, hole size in distributor, density difference between phases, and viscosity ratio of oil/water systems, employing three liquid/liquid systems; kerosene/water, gasoil/water, and hexane/water.

Higher value of coalescence time was 8.26s at 0.7 ml/s flow rate, 30 cm height and 7 mm diameter of hole for gas oil/water system, and lower value was 0.5s at 0.3 ml/s flow rate, 10 cm height and 3 mm diameter of hole for hexane/water system.

It is observed that time of coalescence increased with increase in the dispersed phase flow rate, continuous phase height, hole size in distributor, and viscosity ratio of oil/water system.

The results have been analyzed by dimensional and statistical analysis, and a correlation was developed relating coalescence time with the operating factors and the physical properties of the three oil/water systems.