Simulation studies of phase inversion in agitated vessels using a Monte Carlo technique

A speculative study on the conditions under which phase inversion occurs in agitated liquid-liquid dispersions is conducted using a Monte Carlo technique. The simulation is based on a stochastic model, which accounts for fundamental physical processes such as drop deformation, breakup, and coalescence, and utilizes the minimization of interfacial energy as a criterion for phase inversion. Profiles of the interfacial energy indicate that a steady-state equilibrium is reached after a sufficiently large number of random moves and that predictions are insensitive to initial drop conditions. The calculated phase inversion holdup is observed to increase with increasing density and viscosity ratio, and to decrease with increasing agitation speed for a fixed viscosity ratio. It is also observed that, for a fixed viscosity ratio, the phase inversion holdup remains constant for large enough agitation speeds. The proposed model is therefore capable of achieving reasonable qualitative agreement with general experimental trends and of reproducing key features observed experimentally. The results of this investigation indicate that this simple stochastic method could be the basis upon which more advanced models for predicting phase inversion behavior can be developed.