Water-in-diesel fuel nanoemulsions: Preparation, stability and physical properties

In this work, water-in-diesel fuel nanoemulsions were prepared with mixed nonionic surfactants. Several mixtures of sorbitan monooleate and polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate, with different Hydrophilic–Lipophilic Balance (HLB) values (9.6, 9.8, 10, 10.2 and 10.4) were prepared to achieve the optimal HLB value. Three mixed surfactant concentrations were prepared at 6%, 8% and 10% to identify the optimum concentration. Five emulsions with different water contents: 5%, 6%, 7%, 8% and 9% (wt./wt.) were prepared using high energy method at the optimum conditions (HLB = 10 and mixed surfactant concentration = 10%). The effect of HLB value, mixed surfactant concentration and water content on the droplet size has been studied. The interfacial tension and thermodynamic properties of the individual and the blended emulsifiers were investigated. Droplet size of the prepared nanoemulsions was determined by dynamic light scattering and the nanoemulsion stability was assessed by measuring the variation of the droplet size as a function of time. From the obtained results, it was found that the mean droplet sizes were formed between 49.55 and 104.4 nm depending on HLB value, surfactant concentration and water content of the blended emulsifiers. The physical properties, kinematic viscosity and density, of the prepared nanoemulsions and the effect of different temperatures on these properties were measured

Synthesis and characterization of oil sorbent based on Hydroxypropyl Cellulose Acrylate

The present work deals with the preparation of some oil sorbers based on cellulose derivatives to control petroleum oil spills. In this respect, hydroxypropyl cellulose HPC was used to synthesize hydroxypropyl cellulose acrylate HPCA macromonomer by esterification of HPC with acryloyl chloride. Then the produced HPCA monomer was copolymerized with octadecyl acrylate (ODA) in the presence of two types of crosslinkers to produce oil gel. The chemical structures of both HPC and HPCA were confirmed by using FTIR and 1HNMR spectroscopic analysis. Whereas the thermal properties of the crosslinked oil absorbents were investigated using TGA. Furthermore, morphological properties of prepared crosslinked copolymers were studied using SEM. Several parameters were considered to evaluate the oil sorbers, such as: monomers feed ratio, type and concentration of the applied crosslinkers. Finally, the swelling efficiency of oil gel was thoroughly investigated in light and heavy oil. It observed that as the octadecyl acrylate content increased the oil absorbency also increased and reached a maximum value at monomer feed ratio 10/90 HPCA/ODA. It is found that the maximum oil absorbency measured with MBA at a monomer feed ratio 10/90 HPCA/ODA are 29.7 and 18.6 g/g for toluene and crude oil, respectively