Study of droplet breakage in a pulsed disc and doughnut column-Part I: Experiments and correlations

We have developed a direct measurement method for the breakage of droplet swarm in our previous work. However, experimental data for droplet breakage is still extremely indispensable for the development and employment of population balance model (PBM). In this paper, the direct measurement of droplet breakage for a series of liquid-liquid systems has been carried out in a pulsed disc and doughnut column (PDDC) to meet the requirement. The data together with that in our previous work cover the main factors affecting the droplet breakage in the PDDC and are sufficient to support the establishment of useful empirical correlations for breakup frequency and daughter droplet size distribution. The experimental results and correlations all indicate that the breakup frequency function increases as the dispersed-phase viscosity or the interfacial tension decreases. The daughter droplet size distribution broadens considerably with decreasing interfacial tension. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.