The Effect of Salt on Stability of Aqueous Foams

Abstract

The properties of foams are often affected by environmental variables such as salt contamination. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of salt on the drainage behavior of aqueous foams. To accomplish this objective, drainage experiments were conducted on aqueous foams. Test variables were foam quality (40–65%), and salt content (0% to 18%), and type. To investigate drainage, the foam was generated in a flow loop and trapped in a vertical test section. Then, the pressure profile in the foam column was measured using ten pressure sensors. Foam drainage is determined as a function of time using measured pressure profiles. The results show that the drainage of NaCl-containing foams decreased with foam quality, whereas the CaCl2-containing foams did not exhibit a clear trend with foam quality. The effect of salt content on foam rheology was minimal.

Keywords

• foam
• stability
• drainage
• rheology
• pressure
• quality