Developments in the continuous mechanical production of oil-in-water macro-emulsions

Emulsification processes are determined both by droplet disruption and droplet re-coalescence. This paper explains the fundamentals of droplet disruption in laminar and turbulent flow. Emulsification results from different continuous emulsification machines are compared with respect to the energy density (specific volumetric energy input) achieved. This is the first time that such a comparison has been made for both droplet disruption itself and droplet disruption superimposed by re-coalescence.