Effect of Surface Hydrophobicity on the Hydrodynamic
Detachment of Particles from Surfaces
Alexandre M. Freitas and Mukul M. Sharma*
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas 78712
Received June 16, 1998. In Final Form: December 17, 1998
Experiments were performed to evaluate the hydrodynamic force required to detach colloidal particles
from substrates by fluids in simple shear flow. The role of DLVO and acid-base interactions on the process
of adhesion and removal of colloidal particles, from model surfaces, in various fluid environments was
investigated. Particles and substrates with varying degrees of hydrophobicity were used. The free energy
of interaction between these surfaces in a number of fluid media was calculated using the acid-base
approach. Good qualitative agreement was obtained between calculated values of free energy of interaction
using the acid-base approach and the critical hydrodynamic force required to detach the particles if long
range electrostatic repulsion is properly accounted for. Results for a range of particles and substrates of
varying hydrophobicity and for a range of solvents can be consistently explained using this approach.
Introduction
Dussan and Lee
1
studied the behavior of a small
spherical particle initially at rest on the surface of a flat
plate in a laminar boundary layer. The adhesion of carbon
black particles to a glass substrate in an aqueous media
and their subsequent removal by ionic surfactant solutions
were studied by Clayfield and Smith
2
using a powder-bed
technique. It was shown that, at certain surfactant and
electrolyte concentrations, about 60% of the adherent
particles could be removed with no appreciable hydro-
dynamic force. The adhesion force between carbon-black
particles and a cellulose film in aqueous solution was
studied by Visser.
34
He also studied the adhesion of
colloidal polystyrene particles to the same substrate
35
as
a function of pH and ion concentration and concluded that
the adhesion of the particles could be described in terms
of the DLVO theory.
Pokusayev et al.
3
investigated models for particle
detachment from flat substrates by laminar flow and
Grishin
4
studied the mechanisms of detachment of
particles in turbulent flow. Hubbe
5
presented models for
the detachment of colloidal particles from solid surfaces
exposed to shear flow. The models are most relevant for
hard, spherical particles. It was concluded that the
component of hydrodynamic force acting parallel to a
sheared wall is usually much larger than the lifting force.
He argued that limiting modes of incipient motion (e.g.,
rolling, sliding, and lifting) can be distinguished based on
the dependency of the shear stress required for detachment
on the size of particles.
Khilar and Fogler
6
and Kia et al.
7
investigated the
existence of a critical ionic concentration for particle
release from a Berea sandstone. They concluded that a
critical salt concentration exists below which colloids are
mobilized from pore surfaces in sandstones.
A fundamental study on particle adhesion and removal
in model systems was conducted by Kallay et al.
8
It was
shown that the removal of spherical colloidal hematite
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10.1021/la9807107 CCC: $18.00 © 1999 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 03/05/1999