conclusion that NaCl enhances the thermal effect during microwave
heating, rather than directly changing the interfacial tension.
The combined effects of salt content and increased temperature
due to microwave heating lead to a significant reduction in separation
time with all the emulsions studied. The mechanisms by
which enhanced separation occurs are droplet coalescence or a viscosity
reduction in the oil film adjacent to the water droplet. The
experimental settling data, coupled with measurements of the
droplet size distribution shown in Fig. 1 can be used to estimate
the extent to which coalescence occurs.