The role of curvature effects in liquid-liquid extraction: assessing organic phase mesoscopic properties from MD simulations.

The bending rigidity of small reverse aggregates involved in liquid-liquid extraction processes has been investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Simulations of a common extractant (DMDOHEMA) with four hydrophobic chains in explicit solvent (n-heptane) and in vacuum have been performed to determine the effect of solvent penetration on film stiffness. Elastic film bending energy that is needed for mesoscopic modelling of transfer of species between complex fluids is harmonic in terms of curvature (Helfrich formalism) and the packing parameter only if the solvent is explicitly taken into account. In terms of the packing parameter of the real molecular film constituting the reverse water in oil aggregates and taking into account molecular volume, area and film thickness (that is in agreement with Tanford's model), the bending rigidity is calculated to be about 16 kBT per extractant molecule (about 40 kJ mol-1), which is smaller than the free energy of transfer from an isolated "monomer" molecule to a weak aggregate, but of the order of magnitude of the free energy of transfer used in liquid-liquid extraction processes.

Relaxation effect on the Onsager coefficients of mixed strong electrolytes in the mean spherical approximation.

The Fuoss-Onsager continuity equations are solved by using the equilibrium pair distribution functions of the mean spherical approximation in the case of equal diameters. An analytical expression is obtained for the relaxation effect on the Onsager coefficients of mixed strong electrolytes. This work also extends the existing expressions for the conductivity of binary and ternary electrolytes to any number of ions.

Influence of ion properties on the equilibrium and transport properties of electrolyte solutions.

Strong electrolytes are described in the framework of the primitive model in which the solvent is regarded as a dielectric continuum, using the mean spherical approximation. The analytical solution of the equilibrium and transport properties is dependent on the ions' diameters and valencies. For hydrated or nonspherical ions, an effective diameter must be fitted. A sensitivity study of the osmotic coefficient and the transport coefficients is performed on theoretical 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1 electrolytes, up to a total ion concentration of 2 mol/L.