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Observations on the break-up of single drops in a rotating disc contactor show that there is a critical rotor speed below which drops of a given size do not break. Weber and Reynolds numbers are required to correlate the data and not simply a Weber number as for turbine agitated systems. The probability of break-up of a drop at the rotor edge is expressed in terms of a Weber number with a lower limit for critical conditions. The mean number of daughter drops produced on break-up is correlated as a simple function of drop diameter based on the critical diameter and agreement is found with data from other types of agitated equipment.

In this article, droplet size and its distribution along a pulsed liquid–liquid extraction column, is studied where SiO2 nanoparticles with concentrations of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 vol.% and different hydrophobicities are applied to the dispersed phase. Using ultrasonication, nanoparticles were dispersed in kerosene as the base fluid. Nanofluids' stability was ensured using a UV–vis spectrophotometer. Some 22,000 droplets were measured by photographic technique and results were compared with systems containing no‐nanoparticles (Water–Acetic acid–Kerosene). Addition of nanoparticles changed the droplet shape from ellipsoidal to spherical. Also, there was a marked influence on droplet breakage and droplet coalescence at 0.01 vol.%, and 0.05 vol.% or higher volume fractions, respectively. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering