Cold Model Study of Emulsification Behavior in Bottom Blown Metallurgical Baths Covered with Thick Slag

In the processes with two interacting immiscible liquids, the overall rate of the inter-phase reactions is typically controlled by chemical reaction at the interface, mass transport within each phase, or combination of both. Under these conditions, the overall rate of the reaction between the two phases is closely related to the behaviour of their interface, the interfacial area in particular. In this work, aiming to study emulsification and the associated interfacial area increase in bottom blown metallurgical systems, water modeling was used. For two different water–oil systems, the droplet size distribution, water–oil interfacial area increase, and their dependence on gas flow rate and physical properties of the liquids were studied. The total interfacial energy and the fractions dissipated in forms of surface and potential energy were calculated.