INVESTIGATION ON THE ROLE OF ASPHALTENES AS STABILIZERS FOR TOLUENE-IN-WATER MINIEMULSIONS USING AN ELECTROSONIC ANALYSIS (ESA) METHOD

The study was aimed at investigating the role of asphaltenes as stabilizers for totuene-in-water miniemulsions. These miniemulsions were prepared with sodium laurylsulphate and cetyl alcohol. To confirm the amphoteric nature of the asphaltenes: 1) they were adsorbed on fluorite and their electrophoretic mobility was measured using a microelectrophoresis cell and; 2) interfacial tension measurements were carried out using a tensiometer. The experiments reported here use the electrosonic analysis (ESA) method and were carried out on the ESA-8000 Analysis System (Matec) It was experimentally observed that there is a direct relationship between the ESA Potential and the asphaltenes content in the miniemulsions. The pH influence on the ESA Potential of the alphaltenes-containing miniemulsions was investigated as welt A theoretical explanation for both phenomena is provided. To our knowledge, this is the first published attempt to determine the influence of asphaltenes on toluene-in-water emulsions sta...