Influence of the surfactant nature on the calcium carbonate synthesis in water-in-oil emulsion

Calcium carbonate has been precipitated from water-in-oil emulsions consisting of n-hexane/nonionic surfactant (Brij 30) and its mixture with cationic (DTAB) or anionic surfactant (SDS) to which calcium chloride and sodium carbonate were added. It was found that the surfactant kind and its amount can regulate the size, form and morphology of the precipitated particles. In case of nonionic surfactant the water/surfactant ratio is the most important parameter that allows to obtain small and regular calcium carbonate crystals. Addition of the DTAB results in different morphology of particles having the same crystal form, whereas addition of SDS changes the kind of emulsion from water-in-oil to oil-in-water. Moreover, light transmittance and backscattering light measurements have been used as a method to study the kinetics of calcium carbonate precipitation in emulsion systems. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.