Course Name: CH412-INTERFACIAL SCIENCE

Key concepts in INTERFACIAL SCIENCE

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Key concepts in IS

Wetting
Adsorption
Emulsions
Colloids
Membranes

Wetting
Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact
with a solid surface, resulting from intermolecular
interactions when the two are brought together.
The degree of wetting (wettability) is determined by
a force balance bet ween adhesive and
cohesive forces.
Wetting deals with the three phases of materials:
gas, liquid, and solid.
It is now a center of attention in nanotechnology and
nanoscience studies due to the advent of many
nanomaterials in the past two decades
(e.g. graphene, carbon nanotube).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting

Wetting
Wetting is important in the bonding
or adherence of two materials. Wetting and
the surface forces that control wetting are
also responsible for other related effects,
including so-called capillary effects.
Regardless of the amount of wetting, the
shape of a liquid drop on a rigid surface is
roughly a truncated sphere.
There are two types of wetting: non-reactive
wetting and active wetting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting

Water droplet immersed in

oil and resting on a brass
surface

Water beads on a fabric that has been

made nonwetting by chemical treatment
Interfacial interactions of materials. A)
Interaction quantified as contact angle
(see formula). B) Interaction described
in terms of good wetting (spreading),
partial (poor) wetting, or nonwetting.

Contact angle for a liquid droplet on

a solid surface

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting

Wetting
Contact
angle

Degree of
wetting

Strength of:
Solid/liquid Liquid/liquid
interactions interactions

=0

Perfect
wetting

strong

weak

0 < < 90

high
wettability

strong
weak

strong
weak

weak

strong

weak

strong

90 <
180
= 180

low
wettability
perfectly
non-wetting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting

Adsorption
Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a gas,
liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of
the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent.
This process differs from absorption, in which a fluid (the
absorbate) permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid
(the absorbent).
Adsorption is a surface-based process while absorption involves the
whole volume of the material.
The term sorption encompasses both processes, while desorption is
the reverse of it. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon.

www.chemgapedia.de

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Adsorption

www.physics.siu.edu

Adsorption
Similar to surface tension, adsorption is a consequence
of surface energy.
In a bulk material, all the bonding requirements (be
they ionic,covalent, or metallic) of the constituent atoms of
the material are filled by other atoms in the material.
However, atoms on the surface of the adsorbent are not
wholly surrounded by other adsorbent atoms and therefore
can attract adsorbates.
The exact nature of the bonding depends on the details of the
species involved, but the adsorption process is generally
classified as physisorption (characteristic of weak van der
Waals forces) or chemisorption (characteristic of covalent
bonding). It may also occur due to electrostatic attraction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Adsorption

Emulsions
The word "emulsion" comes from the Latin word for
"to milk", as milk is an emulsion of fat and water,
among other components.
Two liquids can form different types of emulsions. As
an example, oil and water can form, first, an oil-inwater emulsion, wherein the oil is the dispersed
phase, and water is the dispersion medium.
Second, they can form a water-in-oil emulsion,
wherein water is the dispersed phase and oil is the
external phase.
Multiple emulsions are also possible, including a
"water-in-oil-in-water" emulsion and an "oil-inwater-in-oil" emulsion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion

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Emulsions
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are
normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable).
Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase
systems of matter called colloids.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting

Emulsions
Although the terms colloid and emulsion are
sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion should be
used when both the dispersed and the continuous
phase are liquids.
In an emulsion, one liquid (the dispersed phase)
is dispersed in the other (the continuous phase).
Examples of emulsions include vinaigrettes, milk,

mayonnaise (Egg yolks, oil and vinegar), and

some cutting fluids for metal working.
Egg yolks: the yellow spherical part of an egg that is
surrounded by the albumen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion

Colloids
A colloid is a substance in which microscopically dispersed
insoluble particles are suspended throughout another
substance. Sometimes the dispersed substance alone is called
the colloid
the term colloidal suspension refers unambiguously to the
overall mixture (although a narrower sense of the word
suspension is contradistinguished from colloids by larger
particle size).
Unlike a solution, whose solute and solvent constitute only
one phase, a colloid has a dispersed phase (the suspended
particles) and a continuous phase (the medium of
suspension).
To qualify as a colloid, the mixture must be one that does
not settle or would take a very long time to settle appreciably.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid

Milk is an emulsified colloid of liquid butter

fat globules dispersed within a water-based
solution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid

maryhally.wordpress.com

www.chm.bris.ac.uk

www.scienceiscool.org

Marshmallow: Spongy confection made of gelatin and

science.howstuffworks.com sugar and corn syrup and dusted with powdered sugar

Membranes
A membrane is a selective barrier b/w two phases.
At times, it is also an outer covering of cell or cell
organelle that allows the passage of certain
constituents and retains other constituents found in
the liquid.
The influent of a membrane is known as the feedstream, the liquid that passes through the
membrane is known as the permeate and the liquid
containing the retained constituents is the retentate
or concentrate.

Membranes
The concept of a membrane has been known since the
eighteenth century, but was used little outside of the
laboratory until the end of World War II.
Drinking water supplies in Europe had been compromised by
the war and membrane filters were used to test for water
safety.
However, due to the lack of reliability, slow operation,
reduced selectivity and elevated costs, membranes were not
widely exploited.
The first use of membranes on a large scale was with microfiltration and ultra-filtration technologies.
Since the 1980s, these separation processes, along with
electrodialysis, are employed in large plants and, today, a
number of experienced companies serve the market.

Membranes
The degree of selectivity of a membrane depends on the
membrane pore size.
Depending on the pore size, they can be classified as
microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF)
and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.
Membranes can also be of various thickness,
with homogeneous or heterogeneous structure.
Membranes can be neutral or charged, and particle transport
can be active or passive.
The latter can be facilitated by pressure, concentration,
chemical or electrical gradients of the membrane process.
Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic
membranes and biological membranes

Membrane processes and driving force

www.separationprocesses.com

www.slideshare.net

www.intechopen.com

Membrane Classifications

www.smartmembranesolutions.co.nz

Types of Membrane Separation

and Scope of Application

www.toyobo-global.com

Membrane Bioreactor System(Sewage treatment

systems)

Membrane Materials-classification
Almost all industrial membrane processes are made from natural or
synthetic polymers.
These membranes are sometimes known as organic membranes.
Natural polymers include wool, rubber (polyisoprene) and cellulose.
Examples of synthetic polymers include polyamide, polystyrene and
polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon).
Membranes can also be made from other non-polymeric materials.
Such membranes include inorganic membranes (for example metal,
ceramic, carbon and zeolites) and liquid membranes.
In addition, recent developments had led to the introduction of the socalled Hybrid Membranes (or Mixed Matrix Membranes, where both
organic and inorganic components are used).
Another variation in membranes application is the Bipolar
Membranes (BPM). where membranes of different ionic charge are
"sandwiched" together.

Membrane modules
1.
2.
3.
4.

Plate-and-frame
Tubular
Spiral-wound
Hollow fiber

 Plate-and-Frame Modules
The plate-and-frame modules were one of the
earliest types of membrane system,
but because of their relatively high cost they
have been largely replaced in most
applications by spiral-wound modules and
hollow-fiber modules.
Plate-and-frame modules are now used only
in electrodialysis and pervaporation systems
and in a limited number of reverse osmosis
and ultrafiltration applications with highly
fouling conditions.

synderfiltration.com

Plate-and-frame units use the

membrane itself, aided by lock rings or
strips, to seal off the feed/ retentate
from mixing into the permeate
channels.

Tubular Modules
These modules are now generally limited to
ultrafiltration applications, for which the benefit of
resistance to membrane fouling outweighs the high
cost.
Tubular membranes contains as many as 5 to 7 smaller
tubes, each 0.5 to 1.0 cm in diameter, nested inside a
single larger tube.
In a typical tubular membrane system, a large number
of tubes are manifolded in series.
The permeate is removed from each tube and sent to a
permeate collection header.

Tubular membrane module

www.forwardosmosistech.com

Tubular membrane module

www.kochmembrane.com

cross flow module

www.pall.com

Membrane module with multiple tubular

membranes (or multi-tube module)

onlinembr.info

 Spiral-wound modules
Industrial-scale modules contain several membrane envelopes, each
with an area of 1 to 2 m2, wrapped around the central collection pipe.
Multi-envelope designs minimise the pressure drop encountered by
the permeate travelling toward the central pipe.
The standard industrial spiral-wound module is 8-inch in diameter and
40-inch long.
The module is placed inside a tubular pressure vessel.
The feed solution passes across the membrane surface, and a portion
of the feed permeates into the membrane envelope, where it spirals
towards the centre and exits through the collection tube as shown in
the Figure.
4 to 6 spiral-wound membrane modules are normally connected in
series inside a single pressure vessel.
A typical 8-inch diameter tube containing 6 modules has 100 to 200
m2 of membrane area.

Spiral wound membrane module

en.wikipedia.org

Hollow-fibre modules
Hollow-fibre modules are characteristically 4-8
inch (10-20 cm) in diameter and 3-5 (1.0-1.6 m)
feet long.
Hollow-fibre units are almost always run with the
feed stream on the outside of the fibre.
Water passes through the membrane into the
inside or "lumen" of the fibre.
A number of hollow-fibres are collected together
and "potted" in an epoxy resin at both ends and
installed into an outer shell.

Hollow-fibre modules-two desins

In the shell-side feed design, a loop or closed bundle of fibres is
contained in a pressure vessel.
The system is pressurised from the shell side, and the permeate
passes through the fibre wall and exits through the open fibre
ends. This design is easy to fabricate and allows very large
membrane areas to be contained in an economical system.
Because the fibre wall must support considerable hydrostatic
pressure, the fibres usually have small diameters and thick walls,
typically 50-mm inner diameter and 100 - 200 mm outer
diameter.
In the bore-side feed design, the fibres are open at both ends and
the feed is circulated through the bore (annulus area) of the
fibres.
To minimise pressure drop inside the fibres, the diameter are
usually larger than those of the fine fibres used in the shell-side
feed design.

Hollow fiber membrane module

www.kochmembrane.com

Hollow fiber membrane

www.internationaltradenews.com