Effect of Emulsifier Type on Droplet Disruption in Repeated Shirasu Porous Glass Membrane Homogenization

• Published in: Langmuir 2006-05, Vol.22 (10), p.4526-4533
• Main Authors: Vladisavljević, Goran T, Surh, Jeonghee, McClements, Julian D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry, Physical - instrumentation; Chemistry, Physical - methods; Colloidal state and disperse state; Emulsions - chemistry; Emulsions. Microemulsions. Foams; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Glass - chemistry; Membranes; Particle Size; Porosity; Porous materials; Surface physical chemistry; Surface-Active Agents - chemistry; Viscosity
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/la053410f

The influence of various emulsifier types (anionic, nonionic, and zwitterionic) on the mean particle size, transmembrane flux, and membrane fouling in repeated membrane homogenization using a Shirasu porous glass (SPG) membrane has been investigated. Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions (40 wt % corn oil stabilized by 0.06−2 wt % sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or 0.1−2 wt % Tween 20 at pH 3 or 0.5−2 wt % β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) at pH 7) were prepared by passing coarsely emulsified feed mixtures five times through the membrane with a mean pore size of 8.0 μm under the transmembrane pressure of 100 kPa. The flux increased as the number of passes increased, tending to a maximum limiting value. The maximum flux for the Tween 20-stabilized emulsions (5−47 m3·m-2·h-1) was smaller than that for the SDS-stabilized emulsions (29−60 m3·m-2·h-1) because less energy was needed for the disruption of a SDS-stabilized droplet due to the lower interfacial tension. The mean particle size after five passes was 4.1−6.8 and 6.4−8.7 μm for 0.1−2 wt % SDS and Tween 20, respectively. The flux in the presence of β-Lg was much smaller than that in the presence of SDS and Tween 20, which was a consequence of more pronounced membrane fouling, due to the protein adsorption to the membrane surface. After five passes through the membrane, the fouling resistance in the presence of 2 wt % β-Lg (1.1 × 1010 1/m) was 2 orders of magnitude higher than that for 0.5 wt % Tween 20 and an order of magnitude higher than the membrane resistance. If a clean membrane was used in the fifth pass, a 2-fold reduction of the fouling resistance was observed.