The mechanism of the resolution of water-in-oil emulsions by electrical treatment

When water-in-oil emulsions and many other suspensions are placed in a direct or alternating electric field the droplets or particles line up into chains in the direction of the field and, in the case of emulsions, the droplets may then coalesce and the phases separate. The alinement of the droplets is discussed in terms of the forces between conducting spheres in a field and it is suggested that their coalescence is caused by the force due to electrical charges on them or the electrical breakdown of the thin layer of dielectric separating them. According to these views it should be difficult if not impossible to dehydrate fine stable emulsions completely by the electrical method.