2020 Volume 63 Issue 6 Pages 375-379
Recently, microwave-assisted demulsification has been proposed using characteristics of both the selective heating of water phase and the local heating at interface in processes of petroleum production and refining. However, the mechanism has not been understood perfectly. In this study, interfacial tension of oil-water system was measured during and after microwave irradiation at the different condition of surfactant concentration. According to the profiles of interfacial tension, it was found that the quick increase was observed due to the energy concentration by microwave absorption at the interface. The level of interfacial modification was discussed through our dimensionless number about the energy concentration, ant the reason is that surfactant desorption was caused by rotation of both water molecule and polar substituent of surfactant. In the future, microwaves can be expected as a new demulsification method.
