The Study of Corresponding Effects of anionic surfactant concentration and solute on Drop Size in a Mixer-Settler Extractor and Propose an Empirical Model

Abstract

Drop size distribution in a mixer-settler is an essential design parameter, as obtaining drop size distribution will result in optimum performance of equipment. In this paper for obtaining drop size, several experiments have been performed with a single stage horizontal mixer-settler. A video technique has been used in order to measure the drop size in the mixer-settler with the help of a digital camera. The present work examines the influence of an anionic surfactant concentration on the variation of drop sizes in the presence of solute. The results show that in low concentration of surfactant, a significant decrease in mean drop size is observed, but at high concentration, increasing of surfactant concentration doesn’t change mean drop size more. For different concentration of surfactant, a new empirical correlation is derived for estimation of mean drop size. These correlations have a good agreement with experimental data.