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Effect of polymer addition on the phase behavior of oil-water-surfactant systems of Winsor III type

Lu, Ming ; Lindman, Björn LU and Holmberg, Krister (2023) In Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Abstract

Ternary oil-water-surfactant systems can give rise to an O/W microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil, a W/O microemulsion in equilibrium with excess water, or a bicontinuous microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil and water. This type of phase behavior has been known for a long time and the three systems are often referred to as Winsor I, Winsor II and Winsor III, respectively after the British scientist P. A. Winsor who pioneered the area. The Winsor systems are technically important and well understood today. It was later found that addition of a polymer to the oil-water-surfactant system can influence the phase behavior considerably. While a hydrophilic polymer will be incorporated in the water phase and a hydrophobic... (More)

Ternary oil-water-surfactant systems can give rise to an O/W microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil, a W/O microemulsion in equilibrium with excess water, or a bicontinuous microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil and water. This type of phase behavior has been known for a long time and the three systems are often referred to as Winsor I, Winsor II and Winsor III, respectively after the British scientist P. A. Winsor who pioneered the area. The Winsor systems are technically important and well understood today. It was later found that addition of a polymer to the oil-water-surfactant system can influence the phase behavior considerably. While a hydrophilic polymer will be incorporated in the water phase and a hydrophobic polymer in the oil phase, an amphiphilic polymer with the right hydrophilic-lipophilic balance may expand the middle phase microemulsion in a Winsor III system. Expansion of the middle phase of such a system will lead to a reduction of the oil/microemulsion and the microemulsion/water interfacial tensions. This can be practically important, and the effect is currently of considerable interest for so-called surfactant flooding for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Boosting the middle phase of the Winsor III system by addition of a polymer to the surfactant system is still not an established procedure and not so well understood from a scientific point of view. In this review we summarize the work done in the field and we demonstrate that the role of the polymer is intimately linked to its interactions with the three other components in the system: the oil, the water, and the surfactant(s).

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Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • pmid:37933977
  • scopus:85176243432
ISSN
1463-9076
DOI
10.1039/d3cp04730j
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
641332ac-bfd2-45e5-9561-1be8d8b2a9ae
date added to LUP
2024-01-10 13:55:14
date last changed
2024-04-25 09:53:51
@article{641332ac-bfd2-45e5-9561-1be8d8b2a9ae,
  abstract     = {{<p>Ternary oil-water-surfactant systems can give rise to an O/W microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil, a W/O microemulsion in equilibrium with excess water, or a bicontinuous microemulsion in equilibrium with excess oil and water. This type of phase behavior has been known for a long time and the three systems are often referred to as Winsor I, Winsor II and Winsor III, respectively after the British scientist P. A. Winsor who pioneered the area. The Winsor systems are technically important and well understood today. It was later found that addition of a polymer to the oil-water-surfactant system can influence the phase behavior considerably. While a hydrophilic polymer will be incorporated in the water phase and a hydrophobic polymer in the oil phase, an amphiphilic polymer with the right hydrophilic-lipophilic balance may expand the middle phase microemulsion in a Winsor III system. Expansion of the middle phase of such a system will lead to a reduction of the oil/microemulsion and the microemulsion/water interfacial tensions. This can be practically important, and the effect is currently of considerable interest for so-called surfactant flooding for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Boosting the middle phase of the Winsor III system by addition of a polymer to the surfactant system is still not an established procedure and not so well understood from a scientific point of view. In this review we summarize the work done in the field and we demonstrate that the role of the polymer is intimately linked to its interactions with the three other components in the system: the oil, the water, and the surfactant(s).</p>}},
  author       = {{Lu, Ming and Lindman, Björn and Holmberg, Krister}},
  issn         = {{1463-9076}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}},
  title        = {{Effect of polymer addition on the phase behavior of oil-water-surfactant systems of Winsor III type}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d3cp04730j}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/d3cp04730j}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}