Tese: Linking the rheology of W/O crude emulsions with the droplet agreggation process
Aluno(a) : Eliana Paola Marín CastañoOrientador(a): Paulo Roberto S. Mendes
Área de Concentração: Termociências
Data: 31/03/2020
Link para tese/dissertação: http://doi.org/10.17771/PUCRio.acad.51408
Resumo: This research focused on studying the rheology of W/O emulsions formed by different crude oils, with special attention to their behavior when subjected to Brownian and hydrodynamic forces. At a microscale level, particle-particle and particle-medium interactions, both of which are involved in the phenomenon of aggregation, define the emulsion’s rheological behavior due to the complex structures created by the droplets as their concentration rises. An experimental study was performed in order to visualize the emulsions characteristics according to its disperse phase concentration and the shear rate applied, verifying the existence of both coalescence and flocculation phenomena during shearing. The modeling of interactions between droplets allowed the prediction of the emulsion’s behavior by colloidal thermodynamics. With it, a methodology to fit the experimental data that included both the shear rate and disperse phase concentration parameters was proposed. This work emphasizes the importance of studying emulsion systems at a micro-scale level in order to obtain a better comprehension of the formation and breakage processes of complex and random aggregate structures. This allows the prediction of the emulsion’s rheological behavior, and the proposition of a phenomenological model to best describe it. risisualize the emulsions.