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The effect of shear and oil/water ratio on the required hydrophile‐lipophile balance for emulsification
Author(s) -
Vander Kloet Jana,
Schramm Laurier L.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of surfactants and detergents
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1558-9293
pISSN - 1097-3958
DOI - 10.1007/s11743-002-0200-6
Subject(s) - chemistry , pulmonary surfactant , kerosene , emulsion , chromatography , shear (geology) , water in oil , emulsified fuel , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , composite material , materials science , biochemistry , engineering
Required hydrophile‐lipophile balance (HLB) values were examined in terms of the nature of kerosene‐water, both oil‐in‐water (O/W) and water‐in‐oil (W/O), emulsions formed using Span 80/Tween 80 surfactant blends. Both the nature of the emulsification method and the oil/water ratio were critical in determining the resulting emulsion type. Both high‐ and low‐shear conditions were investigated. Under high shear, low internal phase emulsions formed using the surfactant mixtures that corresponded to the required HLB values for emulsification involving kerosene (6 for W/O and 14 for O/W). However, at low shear, high internal phase (concentrated) emulsions resulted. Furthermore, depending on the oil/water ratio, some of the high internal phase emulsions were opposite to the type expected, given the HLB of the surfactant blend used. From these results, it appears that the emulsification technique (applied shear and oil/water ratio) used can be of greater importance in determining the final emulsion type than the HLB values of the surfactants themselves.