Electric field enhanced coalescence of silicone emulsions

摘要

A process for separating an emulsion into separate and easily recoverable phases is disclosed. The process comprises exposing said emulsion, comprising a discontinuous phase and a non-conducting continuous phase, to an electric field thereby effecting coalescence of said discontinuous phase into droplets of a size for effective gravitation from the continuous phase, where the discontinuous phase and the continuous phase have different dielectric constants and densities and at least one of the phases comprise a silicon containing compound or a silicon containing polymer. This process is especially useful for separating emulsions where the discontinuous phase is an aqueous acid solution and the continuous phase is diorganopolysiloxane.