Mixing speed, effect emulsion

Flotation processes — Air flotation can be an effective method of treating oily condensate. This process speeds up emulsion separation by mixing dissolved or dispersed air bubbles with the oil droplets. The air decreases the oil density, which increases the rise rate of the droplets. 

Different mixing speeds were used to see the effect of mechanical forces on the emulsion properties. As expected, at high speed (11,000 rpm), average particle size obtained was smaller than at low speed (7,000 rpm) and the viscosity was higher, as expected (see Table I). The lowest viscosity was not observed at the lowest mixing speed, however, but at 9,000 rpm. This surprising result is discussed later. 

Fundamental mixing studies on simple two-component systems have provided insight into the effect of mixing parameters on critical emulsion properties such as particle size distribution. For example, Nagata [81] has shown the distribution of sizes of the dispersed liquid phase as a function of agitator speeds. As we might expect, a normal distribution occurs at higher speeds. In a similar study, the effect of surface tension was determined for several liquid dispersed phases from benzene to paraffin oil [82],... 

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