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Continuous production of miniemulsions using in‐line SMX elements
Author(s) -
ElJaby Ula,
Cunningham Michael,
McKenna Timothy F. L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.12365
Subject(s) - miniemulsion , pulmonary surfactant , mixing (physics) , emulsion , static mixer , chemistry , polymerization , chemical engineering , continuous production , emulsion polymerization , chromatography , adsorption , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , polymer , biochemistry
The preparation and stabilization of miniemulsion systems using SMX static mixers (in line with a pump and reservoir tank) and in situ generated surfactants is presented. Neutralization of a water‐soluble base with an oil‐soluble long chain acid, generating a in situ surfactant at the interface, results in rapid stabilization and emulsification compared to preformed surfactant that must diffuse to, then adsorb on the droplets. As the flow rates (50–75 g/s) and number of mixing elements (7–21 SMX mixers) in series increase, the emulsification time reduces by ∼30‐folds (14 vs. 0.5 min). The reduction in the emulsification time required to produce a stable emulsion at 75 g/s and 21 mixing elements more than compensated for the higher pressure in the emulsification loop, consuming five times less energy than what would be consumed when working at 50 g/s and 7 SMX elements. Subsequently, with the rapid emulsification step, it was possible to test the feasibility of a continuous process for direct emulsification followed by polymerization. Comparing this process with a batch process, similar results for the number of particles/number of droplets ratio and conversion were obtained, but the continuous process was accomplished in a single step. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011