Emulsification, separation, and manipulation of oil-water systems using condensation, electrocoalescence, and electrowetting

This thesis explores the emulsification, separation, and manipulation of oil/water mixtures using a range of chemical, mechanical, and electrical techniques. Simply explained, this thesis reports new methods to emulsify oil and water using condensation, separate oil and water using low-voltage electrocoalescence, and manipulate oil and water using ultra low-voltage electrowetting. The emulsification method relies on condensation of one liquid phase onto another. As nanoscale droplets of water condense onto the surface of oil, they are submerged and stabilized in the oil by a surfactant in the oil phase. The concentration of surfactant and time of condensation determine the size and stability of the resulting emulsions. The separation method presented in this thesis redesigns the configuration of the standard electrocoalescence setup and the dielectric materials used. The design employs a surface configuration in place of a bulk configuration for electrocoalescence.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Guha, Ingrid Fuller.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kripa K. Varanasi.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123056

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/123056