Stabilisation of emulsion droplets by fine powders

Abstract Finely divided solids can stabilize emulsion droplets provided the solids are partially wetted by both the disperse liquid phase and the continuous liquid phase. The stabilisation of oil/water emulsions by finely divided solids in the presence of suitable organics has been related to the three phase (solid/oil/water) contact line. Schulman and Leja (1954a) and Taubman and Koretskii (1965) provide evidence that O / W emulsions are formed when the contact angle is less than 90° but inversion occurs to W / O emulsions when the contact angle exceeds 90°. We present a thermodynamic study of emulsion stabilization by finely divided solids, which is an extension of an earlier theory by Van der Minne (1928) who neglected interactions among the particles and droplets and also entropy effects due to Brownian motion. Only stable W / O emulsions are considered here. The starting point of the theory is an expression for the Helmholtz free energy associated with the oil/water interfaces stabilized by finely divided solids in the presence of surfactants. By minimising this free energy, it is shown that in a stable emulsion almost all the solid particles are adsorbed at the oil/water interface of the oil drops. This accounts for the experimental result that the average size of oil droplets decreases with increase in the concentration of solids. A particular example of emulsion stabilization by solids occurs in the hot water extraction process on the Athabasca oil sands. Both clay particles and anionic surfactants act as stabilizers of the bitumen droplets suspended in an aqueous alkaline environment.