Diesel upgrading: A modeling of its microemulsions

Water/diesel (W/D) microemulsions are a sought solution to reduce pollution emission of diesel engines by lowering the combustion temperature without interfering the engine's performance and design. In this paper, the formation of W/D microemulsions are described by population balance models – an innovative approach, once there was no known phenomenological model that represents such process. Two different droplet's breakage functions were evaluated using two datasets from the literature (A/B). In a nanoscale order, none of the functions could portray the emulsion behavior. Therefore, a correction factor was employed to adjust one of the models, and adequate results were achieved. The adjusted model could represent dataset A with a Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) equal to 0.095, and dataset B with a SMD = 0.006. Such values indicate the similarity between the datasets/results, validating the mathematical model that was implemented. Thus, it was possible to study how the operating conditions (time, interfacial tension, density, rotational speed, and disperser diameter) influence the formation and properties of the W/D microemulsion. Therefore, this work allows a better understanding of the emulsification, being a reliable method to optimize the formation of an adequate W/D microemulsion without having to conduct experimental tests, saving time and costs.