Emulsions prepared by two‐stage ceramic membrane jet‐flow emulsification

Abstract To solve the paradox between the flux and droplet size in conventional membrane emulsification, a process including a two‐stage ceramic membrane emulsification under jet flow was proposed. An apparatus integrating slurry reactor and membrane emulsification was used in this investigation. In the first stage, a ZrO 2 ceramic membrane, with a nominal pore size of 0.16 μm, was used. The flux of the membrane was 150 L m −2 h −1 at a pressure of 0.35 MPa and a temperature of 20°C, and the droplet size of the emulsion was 54.69 μm. To obtain monodispersed emulsions with a small droplet size, a second ceramic membrane jet‐flow emulsification was used. An α‐Al 2 O 3 ceramic membrane with a nominal pore size of 1.5 μm was selected as the emulsification medium. The flux was attained at 454 L m −2 h −1 at a pressure of 0.2 MPa, and the monodispersed emulsion with droplet size (D 50 ) of 2.29 μm could be obtained. The effects of pressure, stirring speed, and emulsifier concentration on the second stage of the process were discussed in detail. © 2005 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2005