Modeling of Sedimentation and Creaming in Suspensions and Pickering Emulsions

Abstract

Suspensions and emulsions are prone to kinetic instabilities of sedimentation and creaming, wherein the suspended particles and droplets fall or rise through a matrix fluid. It is important to understand and quantify sedimentation and creaming in such dispersed systems as they affect the shelf-life of products manufactured in the form of suspensions and emulsions. In this article, the unhindered and hindered settling/creaming behaviors of conventional emulsions and suspensions are first reviewed briefly. The available experimental data on settling/creaming of concentrated emulsions and suspensions are interpreted in terms of the drift flux theory. Modeling and simulation of nanoparticle-stabilized Pickering emulsions are carried out next. The presence of nanoparticles at the oil/water interface has a strong influence on the creaming/sedimentation behaviors of single droplets and swarm of droplets. Simulation results clearly demonstrate the strong influence of three-phase contact angle of nanoparticles present at the oil/water interface. This is the first definitive study dealing with modeling and simulation of unhindered and hindered creaming and sedimentation behaviors of nanoparticle-stabilized Pickering emulsions.