ACHEMA2009 - Photometric instrumentation for evaluation of dispersion stability and optimization

Paper at

ACHEMA 2009
29th International Exhibition-Congress on Chemical Engineering, Environmental Protection and Biotechnology
11 - 15 May 2009 Frankfurt am Main / Germany

T. Sobisch, T. Detloff, U. Rietz, D. Lerche, LUM Berlin/Germany

Paper 7404, 05/14/09 2 p.m.

Photometric instrumentation for evaluation of dispersion stability and optimization of separation and stabilization of dispersions

Dispersion stability – in one way or the other - is a hot topic in many industries (cosmetics, ceramics, pharmaceutics, paints, mining etc.). Mostly high dispersion stability is required, however, separation of dispersions is the issue in other fields.
From this it is evident that formulation of products as well as process and quality control is in need of efficient measurement techniques.
The paper proposes the use of high resolution photometric detection of transmission profiles (LUMiReader) and the use of bottom focussed backscattering (LUMiCheck).
These techniques allow for an accelerated study of dispersion demixing. The LUMiReader provides information on the extent of phase separation but also on the kinetics of the underlying processes directly in-situ. The LUMiCheck is used to measure sedimentation and creaming with high sensitivity by focussing on changes in particle concentration right at the bottom part of the dispersions.
The potential of these methods was demonstrated on several systems by screening for the most efficient dispersants, preparation conditions and also for selection of conditions to separate dispersions.