The influence of different factors on the foam properties of erucamide propyl amine oxide

Abstract

This paper employed the foam scanning method to investigate the foam properties of erucamide propyl amine oxide under various conditions, including different concentrations, temperatures, mineralization levels, salts, polymers, and weak alkaline conditions. The study covered aspects such as foaming ability, foam stability, foam carrying liquid capacity, drainage rate, and foam morphology. The research results indicated that as the concentration of the surfactant increased, the foaming ability and foam-carrying liquid capacity of erucamide propyl amine oxide increased, while foam stability and drainage rate remained relatively stable. With an increase in temperature, the foaming ability, maximum carrying liquid capacity, and drainage speed gradually increased significantly, while foam stability slightly decreased. The maximum carrying liquid capacity and drainage speed of the system increased nearly nine-fold. Different levels of mineralization, salt, and sodium carbonate had little impact on the foaming ability and foam stability of the foam system but increased the foam carrying liquid capacity and drainage rate. At the same salt concentration, the magnesium chloride system exhibited better foaming ability and foam stability but lower carrying liquid capacity and drainage rate compared to the sodium chloride system. As the temperature increased, the number of foams initially increased and then decreased, and 55°C was identified as a critical point. With the increase of time, the number of small bubbles decreased, the size of the foam increased, and the size became more uniform. The number of bubbles with a radius greater than 0.1 mm was almost unchanged with temperature increased at 200 s after N2-blowing. Therefore, erucamide propyl amine oxide exhibited excellent foam properties and demonstrated good salt and weak alkaline resistance. However, it was significantly influenced by temperature and polymers. This work provided data support for its application in the fields of daily chemicals, agriculture, medicine, and energy.