The Establishment of Method to Determine Phase Inversion Point of Crude Emulsion in Micro

Currently, the method for confirming the phase inversion point of an emulsion only exists at a macro level, and it is almost impossible to determine the phase inversion point from a micro level. In order to further enrich the methods for determining the phase inversion point, this study attempts to investigate the phase inversion point from a microscopic perspective. Based on the actual water content method, the macroscopic volume of the emulsion was converted into the total number of emulsion droplets in a micrograph. Secondly, the viscosity method and the actual water cut method were used to determine the phase inversion point. Finally, a new method was used to determine the phase inversion point of the emulsion, and compared with the viscosity method and the actual water cut method. Results showed that first, after a series of simplifications, the RN value (the product of the average radius and number of droplets) was employed to represent the actual macroscopic water content, and the RN micro-scale method was formed to determine the phase inversion point of the emulsion. Second, the phase inversion point determined by the new method was consistent with the results calculated by the viscosity method and the actual water cut method, both of which were 60%. This confirms the validity of the new method. The establishment of the new method has enriched the diversity of methods for determining the phase inversion point and set a precedent for determining the phase inversion point from a microscopic perspective, which is of great significance to the development of phase inversion point research.