Colloid and surface chemistry

Target groups

Industrial engineers and chemists interested in aspects of colloid and surface chemistry relevant to a variety of industries e.g. paints and coatings, detergents, pharmaceuticals among others.

Outcome

Upon successful completion of the course the participants will be acquainted with the basic concepts of colloid and surface chemistry, and furthermore master estimation methods used in a number of areas with industrial and practical relevance.

Content

The participants will be introduced to basics concepts of colloid and surface chemistry including subjects such as:

• Surface and interfacial tensions
• Intermolecular and interparticle forces
• Fundamental equations of surface science (Young-Laplace, Kelvin, Gibbs, Young).
• Contact angle, wetting-spreading
• Surfactants (basics, micelles)
• Emulsions and microemulsions
• Colloidal systems (basics and important properties)
• Electrical properties of colloids and stability of colloidal systems (Schulze-Hardy rule, critical coagulation concentration, DLVO theory)

Participants will furthermore be introduced to a number of additional subjects comprising areas where estimation methods, experimental and numerical techniques relevant to applied colloid and surface chemistry. These include:

• Estimation methods for surface tensions of liquids and liquid solutions
• “Component” theories for interfacial tensions
• Methods for assessing the wetting of surfaces (Zisman plot, use of “component theories”)
• Adhesion theories
• Surface/interfacial phenomena of polymeric systems
• Thermodynamics of surfactants/micellization – empirical tools in surface science (HLB, CPP, etc.)
• Detergency-cleaning of surfaces
• Adsorption (solid-gas interfaces)
• Mechanics of colloidal destabilization (creaming - sedimentation / Stokes equation, coalescence, Ostwald ripening / Kelvin equation, flocculation)
• Properties of charged interfaces (electric double layer - Stern layer, electrokinetic phenomena, electrokinetic theory)

The course material will be copies of the overheads used in the lectures including also Notes. Materials are included in the course fee.

Form

5 day course comprising 10 sessions. During the afternoon there will be some sessions where the participants solve exercises to illustrate selected parts of the curriculum. A personal certificate of completion will be granted upon completion of the course.

Language

English and course materials are in English

Teachers

Professor Kontogeorgis (course responsible) is a chemical engineer with research and teaching interests in the fields of applied thermodynamics, environmental engineering, colloids, interfaces and product design as well as biotechnology.

He is the coordinator of the DTU M.Sc. education in “Advanced and Applied chemistry”. He has supervised/is supervising over 25 PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

He is the author of over 150 peer-review articles in international journals and over 200 conference contributions. He is also the author of several chapters in books and of three books, the most recent one, together with Dr. G.Folas, on thermodynamic models for industrial applications (published in 2010 by Wiley).

He has been teaching colloid and surface chemistry for over 10 years and a book in the field is under preparation.

Venue

The Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Søltofts Plads, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Course availabilty

Contact Georgios Kontogeorgis for course availability. Please note that if a minimum number of 12 participants have not registered 30 working days before the course starts, the course may be cancelled and the course fees will be refunded.

Registration

For registration use: ahj@kt.dtu.dk (Subject: Colloid and Surface Chemistry Course). Please provide full name, company/department address and email. Please also state whether you are an engineer, chemist or technician (or what your professional background is).