Fig. 1: Formation and evolution of water/oil microdroplets near the interfaces from low to high temperatures in three different FSCT systems. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Formation and evolution of water/oil microdroplets near the interfaces from low to high temperatures in three different FSCT systems.

From: Microdroplets initiate organic-inorganic interactions and mass transfer in thermal hydrous geosystems

Fig. 1

a1–a6 microdroplets evolution in a system with water and n-C20H42. b1–b6 microdroplets evolution in a system with water and liquid hydrocarbon from pyrolyzed n-C20H42. c1–c6 microdroplets evolution in system with water and crude oil. Microdroplets do not form at low temperatures. However, when the temperatures exceed 150–165 °C, high temperature and high pressure facilitate the creation of numerous water microdroplets at the oil–water interface. These microdroplets range in size from 5 µm to 30 µm and undergo continuous dynamic evolution. Small microdroplets converge into large microdroplets, which then burst to generate small microdroplets. These microdroplet persist until complete miscibility is achieved between water and oil at temperatures exceeding 350 °C.

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