Stability of inverse microemulsions of acrylamide-based anionic flocculants: Evidence about the need of unsaturated surfactants

Influence of surfactant structural characteristics on stability of inverse microemulsions of acrylamide-based anionic flocculants (40% (w/w) sodium acrylate and 60% (w/w) acrylamide, based on total amount of comonomers) has been studied by using 17 surfactant blends consisting of two non ionic surfactants with different length of hydrophobic chains, different number of hydrophobic chains per molecule, and with and without double bonds on their hydrophobic chains. Experimental evidence shows that unsaturated emulsifiers are needed for obtaining stable inverse microemulsions of acrylamide-based anionic flocculants and that presence of double bonds on the hydrophobic tails of a surfactant is its major structural characteristic to stabilize this kind of polymeric inverse microemulsions (PIM).