Hydrophobic agglomeration

Note, however, that there are more complex cases. For example, it has been shown that, although the adsorption of acetonitrile on Cig silica is not very much stronger than that of methanol, the behavior of the bonded layer is quite different in both cases [18,19]. Methanol and water molecules participate in hydrogen bonds in which they can be either donor or acceptor of hydrogen. This is not the case of acetonitrile, which can be only acceptor and is more hydrophobic. Agglomerates of acetonitrile molecules form in aqueous solutions and a layer of pure acetonitrile forms over or mixes into the layer of alkyl chains bonded to silica and against this layer. As a consequence, the nature of the adsorption isotherm of solutes may be quite different from methanol or acetonitrile solutions [18]. All the consequences of this phenomenon have not been clarified yet. 

Hydrophobic agglomeration by surfactants In the presence of surfactants, the agglomerate size can increase with increase in the intensity of conditioning, with the efficiency being maximum under conditions of shear flocculation. The above is illustrated in Fig. 5.15. 

An agglomeration of molecules containing ionic heads and hydrophobic tails, which form into a structure with a hydrophobic interior and a hydrophilic exterior. 

Suspension Polymerization. Suspension polymerization is carried out in small droplets of monomer suspended in water. The monomer is first finely dispersed in water by vigorous agitation. Suspension stabiUzers act to minimize coalescence of droplets by forming a coating at the monomer—water interface. The hydrophobic—hydrophilic properties of the suspension stabiLizers ate key to resin properties and grain agglomeration (89). 

The use of a water-immiscible Hquid to separate coal from impurities is based on the principle that the coal surface is hydrophobic and preferentially wetted by the nonaqueous medium whereas the minerals, being hydrophilic, remain suspended in water. Hence, separation of two phases produces a clean coal containing a small amount of a nonaqueous Hquid, eg, oil, and an aqueous suspension of the refuse. This process is generally referred to as selective agglomeration. 

The surface of silica is covered by a layer of acidic silanol and siloxane groups. This highly polar and hydrophilic character of the filler surface results in a low compatibihty with the rather apolar polymer. Besides, highly attractive forces between silica particles result in strong agglomeration forces. The formation of a hydrophobic shell around the silica particle by the sUica-sUane reaction prevents the formation of a filler-filler network by reduction of the specific surface energy [3]. 

If a hydrophobic solid is suspended in water and a small amount of oil is added to the system, the oil will preferentially wet out the solid. If a sufficient amount of oil is added, the oil films are brought together and coalescence (a first-order reaction) and agglomeration (a second-order reaction) take place. 

The colloidal particles can be crystalline or constitnte an amorphons agglomeration of individual molecnles. The definition also includes nonaggregated large macromolecules such as proteins. An arbitrary distinction is made between hydrophobic colloids (sols) and hydrophilic colloids (gels), which depends on the degree and type of interaction with the aqneons solvent. 

The monomers commonly used for the preparation of polymer monoliths are either hydrophobic, for example, styrene/divinylbenzene and alkyl methacrylates, or hydrophilic, for example, acrylamides. The polymerization is usually accomplished by radical chain mechanisms with thermal or photochemical initiation, as detailed in the reviews (Eeltink et al., 2004 Svec, 2004a and b). Internal structures of polymer monoliths are described to be corpuscular rather than spongy this means through-pores were found to be interstices of agglomerated globular skeletons as shown in Fig. 7.1 (Ivanov et al., 2003). Porosity is presumably predetermined by the preparation... 

Separation of milled solid materials is usually based on differences in their physical properties. Of the various techniques to obtain ore concentrates, those of froth flotation and agglomeration exploit differences in surface activities, which in many cases appear to involve the formation of complexes at the surface of the mineral particles. Separation by froth flotation (Figure 4) depends upon conversion of water-wetted (hydrophilic) solids to nonwetted (hydrophobic) ones which are transported in an oil-based froth leaving the undesired materials (gangue) in an aqueous slurry which is drawn off from the bottom of the separator. The selective conversion of the ore particles to hydrophobic materials involves the adsorption of compounds which are usually referred to as collectors. 4... 

Anion-based organic dye nanoparticles can be also synthesized on the basis of the ion-association method. In this case, hydrophobic phosphazenium cations such as tetrakis[tris(dimethylamino) phosphoranylideneamino]phosphonium cation are effective for ion-pair formation with anionic dyes. A neutral polymer stabilizer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) that is soluble in water is sometimes added for preventing agglomeration... 

Lee et al. s study also investigates the hydrophilicity of the heterocatalyst. They mention that the highly acidic surface of the material is more hydrophobic than the pure titanium oxide surface. They theorize that this is because the acidic surface results in fewer adsorbed OH ions and thus a weaker interaction with water. As expected, this increased hydrophobicity leads to an increase in the stability of dispersions of nanoscale powders of this material. Saltiel et al. showed that WOs-coated titanium oxide powders were much more stable than their uncoated counterparts. Even after agglomeration, the agglomerates of the coated powders were more porous than those of pure titanium oxide (the coated powders had a fractal dimension of 1.55 while the pure titanium oxide powders had a fractal dimension of 1.60). 

Other polymer materials which can be prepared include latexes, or particle agglomerates, by dispersed phase polymerisation. These can be either hydrophilic or hydrophobic in nature, or may have core-shell morphologies. They can be employed as support materials for a number of catalyst systems. Polymerisation of both phases of the emulsions produces composite materials, which have found use as selective membranes for the separation of mixtures of liquids with similar physical properties. 

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