Experimental study on the dispersion behavior of a microemulsion collector and its mechanism for enhancing low-rank coal flotation

As the poor dispersion of oily collectors and the inferior hydrophobicity of the mineral surface, the lowrank coal has an unsatisfactory flotation performance when using traditional collectors. In this paper, an ionic liquid microemulsion was used as a collector to enhance its floatability. Flotation test results demonstrated the microemulsion collector exhibited a superior collecting ability. A satisfactory separation performance of 78.66% combustible material recovery was obtained with the microemulsion collector consumption of 6 kg/t, which was equivalent to the flotation performance of diesel at a dosage of25 kg/t. The dispersion behavior of the microemulsion collector was investigated using the CryogenicTransmission Electron Microscopy. The interaction mechanism of the microemulsion collector on enhancing the low-rank coal flotation was elucidated through the Zeta potential and contact angle measurements, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis.The microemulsion collector exhibited superior dispersibility, which was dispersed into positively charged oil droplets with an average size of 160.21 nm in the pulp. Furthermore, the nano-oil droplets could be more efficiently adsorbed on the low-rank coal surface through electrostatic attraction, resulting in the improvement of its hydrophobicity. Thus, the microemulsion collector shows great application potential in improving the flotation performance of low-rank coal.

Interaction of Foam and Microemulsion Components in Low-Tension-Gas Flooding

Low-Tension-Foam(LTF)flooding is an emerging enhanced oil recovery technique for low-permeability carbonate reservoirs.Foam capacity is closely related to the salinity environment(or,equivalently,the phase behavior of the oil/water/surfactant system).Therefore,the interactions between microemulsion and foam components are of primary importance in the LTF process.In this study,the phase behavior of an oil/water/surfactant system under equilibrium is analyzed,firstly by assuming perfect mixing.Meanwhile,the formation kinetics of microemulsion are monitored through a novel low-field NMR technique,which is able to provide quantitative assessment on the microemulsion evolution characteristics.Then,foam stability is examined in the absence and in the presence of Winsor-Ⅰ and Winsor-Ⅲ type microemulsions.It is revealed that foam stability depends on the oil solubilization(oil swollen micelle size).A decrease in the oil swollen micelle size and micellar structure effectiveness,in conjunction with an increasing salinity,leads to lower foam stability in the presence of a Winsor-Ⅲ type microemulsion.

Performance evaluation of microemulsion acid for integrated acid fracturing in Middle Eastern carbonate reservoirs

Considering the characteristics of carbonate reservoirs in the Middle East,a low-viscosity microemulsion acid that can be prepared on site and has an appropriate retardation ability was developed.It was compared with four conventional acid systems(hydrochloric acid,gelled acid,emulsified acid and surfactant acid)through experiments of rotating disk,multistage acid fracturing and core flooding with CT scanning.The micro-etching characteristics and conductivity of fracture surfaces were clarified,and the variation of saturation field during water invasion and flowback of spent acid and the recovery of oil phase relative permeability were quantitatively evaluated.The study shows that the addition of negatively charged agent to the oil core of microemulsion acid can enhance its adsorption capacity on the limestone surface and significantly reduce the H+mass transfer rate.Moreover,the negatively charged oil core is immiscible with the Ca^(2+)salt,so that the microemulsion acid can keep an overall structure not be damaged by Ca^(2+)salt generated during reaction,with adjustable adsorption capacity and stable microemulsion structure.With high vertical permeability along the fracture walls,the microemulsion acid can penetrate into deep fracture wall to form network etching,which helps greatly improve the permeability of reservoirs around the fractures and keep a high conductivity under a high closure pressure.The spent microemulsion acid is miscible with crude oil to form microemulsion.The microemulsion,oil and water are in a nearly miscible state,with basically no water block and low flowback resistance,the flowback of spent acid and the relative permeability of oil are recovered to a high degree.

Phase behavior of TXs/toluene/water microemulsion systems for solubilization absorption of toluene

Triton Xs （TXs） surfactants/cosurfactant/water/oil （toluene） microemulsion systems for enhancing toluene solubilization were proposed and its potential was investigated for toluene removal from gas stream. The results indicated that TX-100 was superior to other TXs surfactants in removing toluene without cosurfactant. The efficiency of cosurfactants for improving toluene solubilization capacity follows the order： amine 〉 alcohol 〉 acid. According to the factor analysis, the linear cosurfactants are better than the branched ones. The effects of hydrophile-lipophile balance （HLB）, salt （NaCl） concentration and temperature on the formation of microemulsion system were also discussed. The results suggested that the optimum value of HLB was 15, the effect of NaCl concentration on the system was inconspicuous and the lower temperature enhanced the solubilization capacity. Nonionic surfactant-based microemulsions had a significant absorption enhancement for toluene, indicated by as much as 82.72% of toluene in phase composition diagram, which will have a great prospect in air pollution treatment.

A study of the mechanism of enhancing oil recovery using supercritical carbon dioxide microemulsions

Supercritical carbon dioxide （scCO2） microemulsion was formed by supercritical CO2, H20, sodium bis（2-ethylhexyl） sulfosuccinate （AOT, surfactant） and C2HsOH （co-surfactant） under pressures higher than 8 MPa at 45 ℃. The fundamental characteristics of the scCO2 microemulsion and the minimum miscibility pressure （MMP） with Daqing oil were investigated with a high-pressure falling sphere viscometer, a high-pressure interfacial tension meter, a PVT cell and a slim tube test. The mechanism of the scCO2 microemulsion for enhancing oil recovery is discussed. The results showed that the viscosity and density of the scCO2 microemulsion were higher than those of the scCO2 fluid at the same pressure and temperature. The results of interfacial tension and slim tube tests indicated that the MMP of the scCO2 microemulsion and crude oil was lower than that of the scCO2 and crude oil at 45 ℃. It is the combined action of viscosity, density and MMP which made the oil recovery efficiency of the scCO2 microemulsion higher than that of the scCO2 fluid.

Water solubility enhancements of PAHs by sodium castor oil sulfonate microemulsions

Water solubility enhancements of naphthalene(Naph), phenantherene(Phen) and pyrene(Py) in sodium castor oil sulfonate(SCOS) microemulsions were evaluated. The apparent solubilities of PAHs are linearly proportional to the concentrations of SCOS microemulsion, and the enhancement extent by SCOS solutions is greater than that by ordinary surfactants on the basis of weight solubilization ratio(WSR). The log K em values of Naph, Phen, and Py are 3 13, 4 44 and 5 01 respectively, which are about the same as the log K ow values. At 5000 mg/L of SCOS conccentration, the apparent solubilities are 8 80, 121, and 674 times as the intrinsic solubilities for Naph, Phen, and Py. The effects of inorganic ions and temperature on the solubilization of solutes are also investigated. The solubilization is improved with a moderate addition of Ca 2+ , Na +, NH + 4 and the mixture of Na +, K +, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ and NH + 4. WSR values are enhanced by 22 0% for Naph, 23 4% for Phen, and 24 6% for Py with temperature increasing by 5℃. The results indicated that SCOS microemulsions improve the performance of the surfactant enhanced remediation(SER) of soil, by increasing solubilities of organic pollutants and reducing the level of surfactant pollution and remediation expenses.

Catalytic spectrophotometric determination of trace selenium in microemulsion after separation and enrichment by SDG

A new catalytic spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of trace amount of Se（Ⅳ） in microemulsion medium. The method is based on the catalytic effect of traces of Se（Ⅳ） on the oxidation of 2＇,4＇-dichlorophenylfluomne （p-CPF） by potassium bromate with HNO3 as an activator in the presence of nonionic microemulsion medium. Under optimum conditions, the calibration graph is linear in the range of 0.4-15 μg·L^-1 of Se（Ⅳ） at 480 nm. The detection limit achieved is 9.86 × 10^-10μg·L^-1. Samples were dissolved and the obtained trace Se（Ⅳ） was separated and enriched by sulphydryl dextrane gel （SDG）. The method has been applied for determination of trace selenium with satisfactory results.

Studies on the Microscopic Mechanism of the Thermodynamic Stability of Pesticide Microemulsion

The cryo-fracture electron microscope was used to study the micro-structure of pesticide mi-croemulsions. The hydromechanical radius (Rh) and the distribution (fRh) of pesticide microemulsions were determined by photo-correlation spectroscopy. This study showed that the Rh was significantly greater when the ratio of surfactants to water (w/w) decreased to 20/31 from 27/26, and a bicontinuous structure was formed when the ratio dropped to 15/36. These results explained the relationship between pesticide properties and the microscopic structure, and provided a good method for studying the microscopic structure of pesticide formulations.

Kinetics of the Esterification Reaction Catalyzed by Lipase in W/O Microemulsions of Alkyl Polyglucoside

A novel kinetic mechanism of esterification reaction of 1-hexanoic acid with 1-butanol, catalyzed by lipase, was studied in water-in-oil microemulsions. The microemulsions were formed by alkyl polyglucoside C10G1.54/1-butanol / cyclohexane/phosphate buffer solution. The result shows that when the ratio of mol concentration of 1-butanol to 1-hexanoic acid is about 3.0, the initial rate V0 get the maximum values. This phenomenon was explained by the modified fishlike phase diagrams.

Physicochemical Properties and Evaluation of Microemulsion Systems for Transdermal Delivery of Meloxicam

Microemulsion systems, composed of water, isopropyl myristate （IPM）, polyoxyethylene sorbitan trioleate （Tween 85 ）, and ethanol, were investigated as transdermal drug delivery vehicles for a lipophilic model drug（ meloxicam）. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physicochemieal properties of the tested microemulsion and to find the correlation between the physicoehemical properties and the skin permeation rate of the microemulsion. Pseudo-ternary phase diagram of the investigated system at a constant surfactant/cosurfactant mass ratio （ Km = 1 ： 1 ） was constructed by titration at 20℃, and the five fommlations were selected for further research in the o/w microemulsion domains. The values of electrical conductivity and viscosity showed that the selected systems were bicontinuous or non-spherical o/w microemulsion, and the electrical conductivity and viscosity were increased with increasing the content of water. These results suggest that the optimum formulation of microemulsion, containing 0. 375 meloxicam, 5% isopropyl myristate, 25% Tween 85. 25% ethanol, and water, showed the maximum permeation rate. It had a high electrical conductivity, small droplet size, and proper viscocity.

Microemulsion leaching of vanadium from sodium-roasted vanadium slag by fusion of leaching and extraction processes

The fusion of the leaching and purification processes was realized by directly using microemulsion as the leaching agent.The bis-(2-ethyhexyl)phosphoric acid(DEHPA)/n-heptane/NaOH microemulsion system was established to directly leach vanadates from sodium-roasted vanadium slag.The effect of the leaching agent on the leaching efficiency was investigated,in addition to the molar ratio of H_(2)O/NaDEHP(W),DEHPA concentration,solid/liquid ratio,stirring time,and leaching temperature.In optimal situations,the vanadium leaching efficiency reaches 79.57%.The X-ray diffraction characterization of the leaching residue and the Raman spectrum of the microemulsion before and after leaching demonstrate the successful entry of vanadates from the sodium-roasted vanadium slag into the microemulsion.The proposed method successfully realizes the leaching and purification of vanadates in one step,thereby greatly reducing production costs and environmental pollution.It also offers a new way to achieve the green recovery of valuable metals from solid resources.

Percutaneous absorption and brain distribution facilitation of borneol on tetramethylpyrazine in a microemulsion-based transdermal therapeutic system

In this study, we show that the percutaneous absorption and brain distribution of tetramethylpyrazine(TMP) is enhanced when combined with borneol(BN) in a microemulsionbased transdermal therapeutic system(ME-TTS). The formulation of the TMP and BN microemulsion(TEM-BN-ME) was optimized in skin permeation studies in vitro following a uniform experimental design. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used for the in vivo pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies of TMP-BN-ME-TTS. In the pharmacokinetic study, the TMP-BN-ME-TTS treated rats had significantly higher( P < 0.05) C max and AUC of TMP than the TMP-ME-TTS treated rats, indicating that BN improves the rate and extent of TMP percutaneous absorption. In the tissue distribution study, the AUC of TMP in brain was significantly higher in the TMP-BN-ME-TTS group( P < 0.05), indicating that BN facilitates the distribution of TMP in brain. In summary, BN enhanced the percutaneous absorption and brain distribution of TMP in a microemulsion-based transdermal therapeutic system.

Catalytic Activity of Ceria-Zirconia Nanostructured Materials Prepared via Reversed Microemulsion Method

Single-phase homogeneous Ce1-x ZrxO2 solid versed microemulsion method. The structural properties solutions with various compositions were synthesized using the reand performance of Ce1- xZrxO2 were studied using XRD, BET, SEM, HRTEM, TPR and CO oxidation measurements. The results show that in the range of x = 0.4 - 0.5 and x = 0.6 - 1.0, the solid solutions posses the cubic and the tetragonal phase structure, respectively, Solids obtained by the reversed microemulsion method were more homogeneous on the whole range of composition, XRD investigations of the prepared materials did not show segregation of cerium or zirconium oxides, Highly uniform nanosize solid solution particles of ceria-zirconia with high specific area （146.7 m^2·g^-1） were attained under the conditions of this study. The TPR results and CO oxidation measurements indicate that the performance of the CeO2-ZrO2 mixed oxides is strongly related to the composition and structure of the oxides. Enhancement of the activity was found for the catalyst prepared by reversed microemulsion method as compared to the sample prepared by sol-gel method.

Preparation and Characterization of CeO_2-ZrO_2 Solid Solution Ultrafine Particles Using Reversed Microemulsion

Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 solid solution ultrafine particle was prepared in the cyclohexane/water/OP-10/n-hexanol reversed microemulsion. The quasi-ternary phase diagram investigations showed that the system has narrow W/O type microemulison region, so it is the proper system to prepare Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 solid solution ultrafine particle. Some physical-chemical techniques such as TG/DTA, XRD, BET, and HRTEM are used to characterize the resultant powders. The results show that the fluorite cubic Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 solid solution is obtained at 400 ℃. The surface area is （146.7 m^2·g^-1）, which is higher than the surface area for sol-gel prepared sample （59.5m^2·g^-1）. HRTEM images indicated that the Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 solid solution ultrafine particle is well-crystallized, narrow size distribution, less agglomeration, within mean size of 5 -7 nm.

High Solids-Content Nanosize Polymeric Microlatexes Made by Microemulsion Copolymerization at Ambient Temperature

The microemulsion copolymerizations of acrylic acid (AA),acrylamide (AM),N-methylol acrylamide (NMA),methylmethacrylate (MMA),butyl acrylate (BA) and acrylonitrile (AN) initiated by the redox initiator ammonium persulfate (APS) and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) at ambient temperature were investigated.With this process high solids-content (44.0 wt%) and small (less than 50 nm) particle diameter copolymer latexes were attained.The effects of surfactants,the mechanical stabilities and application properties as an environmentally friendly self-crosslinking pigment printing binder with multifunctional groups were studied.

Synthesis and characterization of CePO_4 nanowires via microemulsion method at room temperature

Uniform CeVO4 nanowires with diameter of about 25 nm were synthesized by the water-in-oil microemulsion method at room temperature from cerous chloride, sodium orthophosphate, sodium chloride, cyclohexane, Triton X-100 and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide （CTAB）. The crystal structure and morphology of the nanowires were characterized by XRD and TEM, respectively. The UV-vis absorption was detected by UV-vis spectrophotometer techniques. The results showed that as-prepared nanowires with the hexagonal phase have obvious quantum confinement effect and semiconductor characteristics. Little sodium chloride could play a positive role on the formation of CePO4 nanowires at room temperature. The size of the nanowires can be controlled through the joining of sodium chloride. C 2009 Yi Bin Yin. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Preparation of Y_2O_3 Nanoparticles Organosol by Microemulsion Method

Y 2O 3 nanoparticles organosol coated with DBS was prepared by microemulsion method. The optimum preparative conditions of Y 2O 3 nanoparticles organosol were obtained. TEM analysis indicates that the prepared Y 2O 3 nanoparticles are spherical in shape. The size is about 5 nm. The size distribution is in the narrow range and no agglomerates are observed. Y 2O 3 nanoparticles coated with DBS are easy to dissolve in weak polar solvents.

Electrochemical Oxidation of L-Cystenine in SDS/BA/H_2O Microemulsion

The electrochemical oxidation of L-cysteine in an SDS/BA/H_2O microemulsion system was studied with the methods of ultramicroelectrode cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance. The catalytic efficiency of the microemulsion on the electrochemical oxidation increases with the increase of BA or SDS content, but decreases with the increase of the water content because of the effects of BA, SDS and water on the solubilization of L-cysteine in the microemulsion. Furthermore, the catalytic efficiency of the bicontinuous structure is greater than that of an O/W microemulsion system. The results derived from both the rate constant k0 and Gibbs free energy ΔG≠ accord with those from the catalytic efficiency.

Molecular dynamics simulation of supercritical CO2 microemulsion with ionic liquid domains: Structures and properties

Supercritical carbon dioxide microemulsions are great medium to combine two immiscible substances through forming nanoscale polar cores in nonpolar continuous phase with the help of proper surfactants. The properties of microemulsions could be significantly affected by their constituents and structures. In this work, molecular dynamics simulation was implemented to study supercritical carbon dioxide microemulsions containing ionic liquid [bmim][PF6] and water by adding surfactant Ls-36. Results showed that the above components could form spherical aggregates in CO2 bulk phase with [bmim][PF6] and some water as the inner core, surfactant headgroups and water as the intermediate shell, and surfactant tails as the outer shell. The microstructure information about the outer shell was further investigated by defining an angle between the surfactant tail and the normal direction of the aggregate outer surface, which ranged from 78° to 125°. The influence of the ionic liquid content on the size and structure of microemulsions was explored and the best molar ratio between the ionic liquid and surfactant was around 1.25 for getting maximum water solubility.

Enhancement of bimetallic Fe-Mn/CNTs nano catalyst activity and product selectivity using microemulsion technique

Bimetallic Fe-Mn nano catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes(CNTs) were prepared using microemulsion technique with water-to-surfactant ratios of 0.4-1.6. The nano catalysts were extensively characterized by different methods and their activity and selectivity in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis(FTS) have been assessed in a fixed-bed microreactor. The physicochemical properties and performance of the nanocatalysts were compared with the catalyst prepared by impregnation method. Very narrow particle size distribution has been produced by the microemulsion technique at relatively high loading of active metal. TEM images showed that small metal nano particles in the range of 3–7 nm were not only confined inside the CNTs but also located on the outer surface of the CNTs. Using microemulsion technique with water to surfactant ratio of0.4 decreased the average iron particle sizes to 5.1 nm. The reduction percentage and dispersion percentage were almost doubled. Activity and selectivity were found to be dependent on the catalyst preparation method and average iron particle size. CO conversion and FTS rate increased from 49.1% to 71.0% and 0.144 to 0.289 gHC/(gcat h), respectively. While the WGS rate decreased from 0.097 to 0.056 gCO2/(gcat h). C5+liquid hydrocarbons selectivity decreased slightly and olefins selectivity almost doubled.