Modeling surfactant and drop size dynamics in polydisperse liquid-liquid systems with population balances

A population balance framework based on high order moment conserving method of classes is extended to capture surfactant dynamics and its effect on drop size distributions. The proposed method is flexible for incorporating various closure models for drop breakage and coalescence, mass transfer, and physical equilibria between dispersed and continuous phase as well as for adsorption to the interface. The method is first schematically explained and derived in a generic form, and then appropriate closure models are discussed. The model is accurate and fast and can be implemented in process models, parameter optimization algorithms, and computational fluid dynamics software due to its high accuracy with limited number of additional variables.