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Dissertation
The Role of Chemistry and Pressure on Surfactant Interfacial Thermodynamics
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Oct 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000208
Abstract
Surfactants are valuable to a large number of applications, from research to industry. The use and design of novel surfactants requires the characterization of fundamental thermodynamic parameters. There are many factors affecting surfactant parameters that are important to interfacial and process engineering, however many have not been fully explored in the literature. This dissertation addresses two such factors, surfactant chemistry and pressure, in order to define the relationship between thermodynamic parameters and process variables. Well established techniques are improved by developing a simple relationship between the chemical structure of nonionic surfactants and fundamental thermodynamic parameters at ambient conditions. For the case of pressure, only a small body of literature is available. This dissertation marks a revisiting of pressure effects using experimental techniques. A new experimental apparatus is designed and implemented, which measures interfacial tension at elevated temperatures and pressures at the microscale. This device represents a platform for precise measurements of interfacial phenomena as a function of pressure that corrects for several challenges found in conventional techniques. The resulting experiments illustrate that ignoring the effect of pressure on surfactants is perilous. This dissertation will further the field of interfacial engineering by highlighting important aspects of surfactant phenomena, enabling better design and the genesis of novel technologies.
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Details
- Title
- The Role of Chemistry and Pressure on Surfactant Interfacial Thermodynamics
- Creators
- Zachary Ryan Hinton
- Contributors
- Nicolas J. Alvarez (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xxiii, 287 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical (and Biological) Engineering [Historical]; College of Engineering (1970-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014833045604721