SIMULATION OF THE OVEREMULSIFICATION PHENOMENON IN TURBULENT STIRRING

An improvement upon the single breakup/coalescence model is presented to account for the overemulsification generated by the turbulent stirr ing of surfactant-oil-water systems. The drop breakup process is revis ited to produce small satellite droplets instead of just two equal dau ghter drops. The proposed multiple breakup/coalescence model has three adjustable parameters. With a single set of these parameters the drop let-size distribution can be predicted for a variety of emulsification conditions. The influence of important variables such as the surfacta nt concentration and the oil volume fraction is simulated on the model and the data are compared with experimental results.