RHEOLOGY OF OIL IN WATER EMULSIONS WITH ADDED SOLIDS

The effect of added solids on the rheology of oil in water emulsions was investigated. The range of the oil concentration, solids free basis, was (0‐70%) and the solids volume fraction was (0‐0.16). The solids mean diameter was 45 μm and it was about four times larger than the oil droplets. In the absence of added solids, non‐Newtonian behaviour was observed for oil concentrations above 40%. The added solids increased the emulsion viscosity in a manner similar to the addition of solids to a homogeneous fluid. The rheological data of all the emulsion‐solids mixtures investigated were correlated as relative viscosity versus solids volume fraction, where the relative viscosity is defined as the ratio of the emulsion‐solids mixture viscosity to the solids‐free emulsion viscosity. In the case of non‐Newtonian systems, the emulsion‐solids mixture viscosity and the solids‐free emulsion viscosity were calculated at the same shear stress. The Barnea and Mizrahi viscosity correlation was found to fit the data well. Copyright © 1990 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering