| Abstract: | The effect of added solids on the rheology of oil in water emulsions was investigated. The range of the oil concentration, solids free basis, was (0-70%) and the solids volume fraction was (0-0.16). The solids mean diameter was 45 μm and it was about four times larger than the oil droplets. In the absence of added solids, non-Newtonian behaviour was observed for oil concentrations above 40%. The added solids increased the emulsion viscosity in a manner similar to the addition of solids to a homogeneous fluid. The rheological data of all the emulsion-solids mixtures investigated were correlated as relative viscosity versus solids volume fraction, where the relative viscosity is defined as the ratio of the emulsion-solids mixture viscosity to the solids-free emulsion viscosity. In the case of non-Newtonian systems, the emulsion-solids mixture viscosity and the solids-free emulsion viscosity were calculated at the same shear stress. The Barnea and Mizrahi viscosity correlation was found to fit the data well. |
