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The seminal study by G. I. Taylor (1923) has inspired generations of work in exploring and characterizing Taylor–Couette (TC) flow instabilities and laid the foundation for research of complex fluid systems requiring a controlled hydrodynamic environment. Here, TC flow with radial fluid injection is used to study the mixing dynamics of complex oil-in-water emulsions. Concentrated emulsion simulating oily bilgewater is radially injected into the annulus between rotating inner and outer cylinders, and the emulsion is allowed to disperse through the flow field. The resultant mixing dynamics are investigated, and effective intermixing coefficients are calculated through measured changes in the intensity of light reflected by the emulsion droplets in fresh and salty water. The impacts of the flow field and mixing conditions on the emulsion stability are tracked via changes in droplet size distribution (DSD), and the use of emulsified droplets as tracer particles is discussed in terms of changes in the dispersive Péclet, Capillary and Weber numbers. For oily wastewater systems, the formation of larger droplets is known to yield better separation during a water treatment process, and the final DSD observed here is found to be tunable based on salt concentration, observation time and mixing flow state in the TC cell. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Taylor–Couette and related flows on the centennial of Taylor’s seminalPhilosophical Transactionspaper (part 2)’. 

Polyelectrolyte-driven flocculation of suspended particulate in solution is an important process in a variety of industrial processes such as drinking water treatment and composite material synthesis. Flocculation depends on a wide variety of physicochemical and hydrodynamic properties, which affect floc size, growth rate, and floc morphology. Floc formation and growth behavior is explored here using two different molecular weights of a cationic polyacrylamide flocculant and anisotropic Na-bentonite clay particles under a variety of solution ionic strengths. A Taylor–Couette cell with radial injection capabilities was used to study the effects of solution ionic strength and polyelectrolyte molecular weight on floc size, growth rate, and floc morphology during the flocculation process with a constant global velocity gradient. The floc size generally decreased with increasing ionic strength whereas the floc growth rate initially increased then decreased. This likely occurred due to charge screening effects, where increased bentonite aggregate size and a less expanded polyelectrolyte conformation at higher ionic strengths results in a decreased ability for the polyelectrolyte to bridge multiple bentonite aggregates. The densification of bentonite aggregates at higher ionic strengths resulted in floc morphologies that were more resistant to shear-induced breakage. With the exceptions of optimal dose concentration and dispersion coefficients, there were no clear differences in the floc growth rate behaviors for the two molecular weights studied. This work contributes to an improved understanding of the physicochemical complexities of polyelectrolyte-driven flocculation that can inform dosing requirements for more efficient industrial operations.