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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Microfluidic Devices for Characterizing Pore-scale Event Processes in Porous Media for Oil Recovery Applications
Published on: January 16, 2018
Comprehensive review of the interfacial behavior of water/oil/surfactant systems using dissipative particle dynamics
Mohammadali Ahmadi1, Ehsan Aliabadian1, Benjieming Liu1
1Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary T2N 1N4, Canada.
Abstract:
A comprehensive understanding of interfacial behavior in water/oil/surfactant systems is critical to evaluating the performance of emulsions in various industries, specifically in the oil and gas industry. To gain fundamental knowledge regarding this interfacial behavior, atomistic methods, e.g., molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, can be employed; however, MD simulation cannot handle phenomena that require more than a million atoms. The coarse-grained mesoscale methods were introduced to resolve this issue. One of the most effective mesoscale coarse-grained approaches for simulating colloidal systems is dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), which bridges the gap between macroscopic time and length scales and molecular-scale simulation. This work reviews the fundamentals of DPD simulation and its progress on colloids and interface systems, especially surfactant/water/oil mixtures. The effects of temperature, salt content, a water/oil ratio, a shear rate, and a type of surfactant on the interfacial behavior in water/oil/surfactant systems using DPD simulation are evaluated. In addition, the obtained results are also investigated through the lens of the chemistry of surfactants and emulsions. The outcome of this comprehensive review demonstrates the importance of DPD simulation in various processes with a focus on the colloidal and interfacial behavior of surfactants at water-oil interfaces.
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