Investigation of the interfacial properties of water-in-diluted-bitumen emulsions using micropipette techniques

The interfacial properties of water-in-diluted bitumen emulsions were studied using micropipette techniques. It was observed that, as bitumen concentration in the bulk phase (C0) increased, the interfacial tension on the water droplet surfaces decreased. In addition, there was a small effect on the interfacial tension when different solvent mixtures were used. Mixtures of toluene and heptane in different ratios were used as solvents for bitumen dilution. Crumpling of the interface was influenced by bitumen concentration and type of solvent. No crumpling was found for bitumen content less than 0.01% for all solvents used. Crumpling was observed at higher bitumen concentrations when deionized water (pH 5.4-5.6) was used. Setting “heptol[A]” to be the mixture of toluene and heptane, with the volume percent of toluene being A, the following were concluded. Crumpling disappeared at C0>1% and when heptol[100] was used, and also at C0>10% and when heptol[30] was used. Crumpling was strongly affected by the water pH. In the case of heptol[50], at a higher pH, the crumpling region that normally occurred at C0>0.01% disappeared. The micropipette technique proved to be useful in studying the interfacial properties of micrometer-sized emulsion drops.