Ostwald ripening destabilization process

Emulsions are understood as dispersed systems with liquid droplets (dispersed phase) in another, non-miscible liquid (continuous phase). Either molecular diffusion degradation (Ostwald ripening) or coalescence may lead to destabilization and breaking of emulsions. In order to create a stable emulsion of very small droplets, which is, for historical reasons, called a miniemulsion (as proposed by Chou et al. [2]), the droplets must be stabilized against molecular diffusion degradation (Ostwald ripening, a unimolecular process or r, mechanism) and... 

The destabilization processes are not independent and each may influence or be influenced by fhe ofhers. For example, the increased droplet sizes after coalescence or Ostwald ripening will enhance the rate of creaming, as will the formation of large floccules which behave as single entities. In practice, creaming, flocculation, and Ostwald ripening may proceed simultaneously or in any order followed by coalescence. 

Direct and inverse emulsions are found in everyday-life products. For instance, both types of emulsion are common in food oil-in-water emulsions include milk, cream, and mayonnaise butter and margarine are examples of water-in-oil emulsions. Furthermore, recent studies were carried out, with the help of professional sensory panelists, to determine the influence of emulsion type on the perception of taste [36], In relation to the breakdown mechanisms of emulsions (creaming/sedimentation, flocculation, coalescence, and Ostwald ripening), controlling emulsion type can be regarded as a key parameter to design stabilization/destabilization processes. In cosmetic... 

In various areas of science and applications, where these basic mechanisms of system destabilization play an important role, different terms, often specific to a particular area of application, are used as synonyms. For instance, the isothermal mass transfer taking place in solid materials is referred to as recrystallization, or coalescence of inclusions in the case of two-phase systems (we will further avoid the use of term coalescence in such sense). Such process taking place in precipitates is referred to as the Ostwald ripening. The fusion of solid particles (in many cases similar to coalescence) is known as sintering. 

Since Ostwald ripening is a diffusive process, it cannot be accelerated by centrifugation. Nevertheless, analytical centrifugation was able to trace emulsion destabilization... 

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