PHASE BEHAVIOUR IN THE SYSTEM TRS 10-80/BUTANOL/PETROL D/SODIUM CHLORIDE

The phase diagrams for the system TRS 10-80/ butanol/Petrol D/sodium chloride show that the weight ratio B = TRS/butanol is very important for the stability of the microemulsion. R = 1 results in a very limited microemulsion region. Provided the ratio is >1.22 the minimum amount of (TRS+butanol) necessary to form a microemulsion, with equal amounts of water and Petrol D, is 15% and approximately independent of R.However, as R is increased the solubility of water in the (TRS+butanol) mixture is reduced and a liquid crystalline phase is formed. Its presence increases the viscosity and the kinetic stability of the emulsions formed at low content of Petrol D.

Addition of electrolyte reduces the minimum amount of (TRS+butanol) necessary to form a microemulsion. Furthermore, systems rich in water separate into two phases; an upper microemulsion phase and a lower aqueous phase. This can be explained in terms of a redistribution of the butanol from the aqueous phase to the oil phase. It is shown that, although the studied system contains unpurified technical products, the phase behaviour is very similar to that of model systems of pure chemicals.

X-ray diffraction showed that the liquid crystal line phase was lamellar. The thickness of the amphiphilie layer was 26-28 Å. It is more difficult to obtain direct information of the structure of the microemulsion. However, conductivity data indicated a “bicontinuous” structure or at least, the occurrence of highly dynamic aggregates over a large concentration range.