THE ENTRAINMENT SWELLING OF EMULSION DURING LACTIC-ACID EXTRACTION BYLSMS

Studies on the entrainment swelling of emulsion during batch extractio n of lactic acid using a liquid surfactant membrane (LSM) system are r eported. The concept of effective concentration of surfactant in membr ane phase has been proposed, considering the high adsorption density o f the surfactant at the droplet interfaces in the LSM system. The swel ling caused by emulsification during the initial dispersion process wa s investigated. The swelling ratio was measured by a density method. A model for estimating the ''emulsification'' swelling ratio, F-se, has been proposed, based on a mechanism of swelling due to the entrainmen t of water resulting from the interfacial turbulence and emulsificatio n in the initial dispersion process.