Mass transfer from nanofluid single drops in low interfacial tension liquid–liquid extraction process

Abstract

The liquid-liquid extraction enhancement of n-butanol-succinic acid-water with low interfacial tension was demonstrated by nanofluids which prepared by two-step method. So far, no one has studied the low interfacial tension system using Al2O3 nanofluids and TiO2 nanofluids. The result, which can provide the basic data support for the future experiments, showed that the extraction efficiency was improved after the addition of nanoparticles. The extraction efficiency of Al2O3 nanofluids was generally higher than that of TiO2 nanofluids, and it can increase up to 90%, and the overall mass transfer coefficient was up to 130.2 μm·s−1.