A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products

Advances in computational technology and high-throughput modeling software have given rise to the tailored design of products that require accurate mathematical relationships for their assessment. Industrial emulsion-based products, ubiquitous to everyday life, are complex systems driven by interfac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Javier D. Gomez, Diego Pradilla, Oscar Alvarez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:International Journal of Chemical Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8897983
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850237781521989632
author Javier D. Gomez
Diego Pradilla
Oscar Alvarez
author_facet Javier D. Gomez
Diego Pradilla
Oscar Alvarez
author_sort Javier D. Gomez
collection DOAJ
description Advances in computational technology and high-throughput modeling software have given rise to the tailored design of products that require accurate mathematical relationships for their assessment. Industrial emulsion-based products, ubiquitous to everyday life, are complex systems driven by interfacial phenomena that require quick property-prediction tools for their commercialization. In this work, by means of a multiscale approach, mathematical relationships to model oil-in-water emulsions and that can be applied to any commercial emulsion-based product are proposed. The energy consumption during the emulsification process (Ev, which transitions from monotonic increase to exponential growth at 80% w/w), a parameter responsible for finished product performance, was linked to final product properties at three different levels: (i) molecular, through the dynamics of the interdroplet interactions given their distribution and structure at a microscopic level; (ii) microscopic, through average droplet size yielding an inversely proportional exponential relationship (D4,3 ∝ Ev−4); and (iii) macroscopic, through the plateau value of the elastic modulus and the flow behavior index leading to inversely proportional quadratic relationships (G′∝ Ev−2 and η∝ Ev−2, respectively). These relationships are valid at dispersed phase concentrations beyond the 60% w/w threshold where the packing of the droplets changes the emulsion’s microscopic structure giving rise to Van der Waals forces-driven phenomena. Finding this threshold allowed expanding the concentration ranges of previously reported models. The main expectation is that these results will aid researchers and process/product designers to optimize their work in different industrial applications.
format Article
id doaj-art-13b9fda8b56544d08feaa0747ec5b5b9
institution OA Journals
issn 1687-806X
1687-8078
language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Chemical Engineering
spelling doaj-art-13b9fda8b56544d08feaa0747ec5b5b92025-08-20T02:01:40ZengWileyInternational Journal of Chemical Engineering1687-806X1687-80782021-01-01202110.1155/2021/88979838897983A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based ProductsJavier D. Gomez0Diego Pradilla1Oscar Alvarez2Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USAProduct and Process Design Group (GDPP), Chemical Engineering Department, Universidad de Los Andes, Carrera 1 No. 18a-10, Bogotá 111711, ColombiaProduct and Process Design Group (GDPP), Chemical Engineering Department, Universidad de Los Andes, Carrera 1 No. 18a-10, Bogotá 111711, ColombiaAdvances in computational technology and high-throughput modeling software have given rise to the tailored design of products that require accurate mathematical relationships for their assessment. Industrial emulsion-based products, ubiquitous to everyday life, are complex systems driven by interfacial phenomena that require quick property-prediction tools for their commercialization. In this work, by means of a multiscale approach, mathematical relationships to model oil-in-water emulsions and that can be applied to any commercial emulsion-based product are proposed. The energy consumption during the emulsification process (Ev, which transitions from monotonic increase to exponential growth at 80% w/w), a parameter responsible for finished product performance, was linked to final product properties at three different levels: (i) molecular, through the dynamics of the interdroplet interactions given their distribution and structure at a microscopic level; (ii) microscopic, through average droplet size yielding an inversely proportional exponential relationship (D4,3 ∝ Ev−4); and (iii) macroscopic, through the plateau value of the elastic modulus and the flow behavior index leading to inversely proportional quadratic relationships (G′∝ Ev−2 and η∝ Ev−2, respectively). These relationships are valid at dispersed phase concentrations beyond the 60% w/w threshold where the packing of the droplets changes the emulsion’s microscopic structure giving rise to Van der Waals forces-driven phenomena. Finding this threshold allowed expanding the concentration ranges of previously reported models. The main expectation is that these results will aid researchers and process/product designers to optimize their work in different industrial applications.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8897983
spellingShingle Javier D. Gomez
Diego Pradilla
Oscar Alvarez
A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
International Journal of Chemical Engineering
title A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
title_full A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
title_fullStr A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
title_full_unstemmed A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
title_short A Multiscale Approach to the Design and Manipulation of Oil-in-Water Emulsion-Based Products
title_sort multiscale approach to the design and manipulation of oil in water emulsion based products
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8897983
work_keys_str_mv AT javierdgomez amultiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts
AT diegopradilla amultiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts
AT oscaralvarez amultiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts
AT javierdgomez multiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts
AT diegopradilla multiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts
AT oscaralvarez multiscaleapproachtothedesignandmanipulationofoilinwateremulsionbasedproducts