Kinetic modeling of flocculation and coalescence in the system emulsion of water-xylene-terbutyl oleyl glycosides

Abstract

The development of a mathematical model for explaining the kinetics of flocculation and coalescence of emulsion droplets is essential to studying the stability of the kinetics emulsion system. Mathematic models were developed from the Van Den Tempel equation by modifying emulsion systems, and the emulsion was made by mixing water-xylene and surfactant tert-butyl oleyl glycosides (TBOG). Furthermore, this research studied the effect of stirrer speed on the value of flocculation rate constant (a) and coalescence rate constant (K). Moreover, the model identified the emulsion development condition controlled by either coalescence or flocculation. However, it was observed that under slow agitation (1000 rpm) the emulsion development was controlled by flocculation mechanism, while a faster agitation (2000 rpm or higher) exhibited coalescence controlled mechanism. The results hereby confirmed that the 1st model was the most appropriate for water-xylene-TBOG emulsion system. After analysing experimental data from four models, the 4th model was discovered to be the most suitable, because it had the least error at 2.22 %.