Project 8: Fundamentals of Emulsion Stability

Project 8 aims to develop and understand the fundamental mechanisms of emulsion stabilization and destabilization critical in many applications. For example, the formation of emulsions stabilized by naturally occurring asphaltenes and other surface active components leads to significant challenges in crude oil-water separations. We strive to improve the understanding of interfacial rheology to enable investigations of the stability of oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions that can ultimately lead to next generation demulsification technologies.