Abstract
     
     The water-in-oil (w/o) and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions are composed of a mixture of oil, water, mud and other agents. We can find them in the process and/or in the spills of different kinds of industries, such as petroleum refinery, processing plants of oil consumption, pharmaceutical industries, food industries, etc.
     The warming of a material at a microwave frecuency depends on the electromagnetic wave frecuency and on the dielectrical properties, as well as the internal energy accumulation attached to the penetration field inside the material. This way, the precise knowledge of dielectrical materials properties is essential to know its behaviour under the influence of an electromagnetic field.
     The general aim of this thesis is to propose alternative methods based on microwave technology to monitor, characterize and/or separate emulsions.
     Thatīs why, we have determined, firstly, the state of the art and we have exposed a serial of theorical concepts. Secondly, we have determined the preparation protocols of prototype emulsions in the laboratory, using two different phases (oleic acid and mineral oil SAE 40), which composition is similar to those that we can find in the industry.
     Simultaneously, we hace chosen, set up and calibrated a measurement system with dielectrical properties in a frecuency range of 1 to 4 GHz (range near the frecuency f=2.45 GHz). This way we have obtained a large information spectrum about dielectric emulsions behaviour, which will be useful to design microvawes applicators in a subsequent phase.
     In this preliminary study, we raised a pilot experience with real emulsions present in the extraction process of African oil palm, with the purpose to determine the effect of wicrowaves in the separation and in the quality of recovered oil.