Emulsion stability, effect emulsifiers

Hand lotions, of the emulsion type, are also, in most cases, oil in water emulsions. A true emulsifying agent is usually used to form the emulsion and for cleansing properties. Vegetable gums, like tragacanth or Irish moss extract, are added, not only to stabilize the emulsion but to increase the emollient properties, because of the added viscosity effect. 

Water content and viscosity measurements in certain systems show a correlation to emulsion stability [597]. The viscosity provides a more reliable measure of emulsion stability, but measurements of the water content are more convenient. Mixing time, agent amount, settling time, and mixing energy impact the effectiveness of an emulsifier. 

The rheological properties of a fluid interface may be characterized by four parameters surface shear viscosity and elasticity, and surface dilational viscosity and elasticity. When polymer monolayers are present at such interfaces, viscoelastic behavior has been observed (1,2), but theoretical progress has been slow. The adsorption of amphiphilic polymers at the interface in liquid emulsions stabilizes the particles mainly through osmotic pressure developed upon close approach. This has become known as steric stabilization (3,4.5). In this paper, the dynamic behavior of amphiphilic, hydrophobically modified hydroxyethyl celluloses (HM-HEC), was studied. In previous studies HM-HEC s were found to greatly reduce liquid/liquid interfacial tensions even at very low polymer concentrations, and were extremely effective emulsifiers for organic liquids in water (6). 

An emulsion is a dispersed system of two immiscible phases. Emulsions are present in several food systems. In general, the disperse phase in an emulsion is normally in globules 0.1-10 microns in diameter. Emulsions are commonly classed as either oil in water (O/W) or water in oil (W/O). In sugar confectionery, O/W emulsions are most usually encountered, or perhaps more accurately, oil in sugar syrup. One of the most important properties of an emulsion is its stability, normally referred to as its emulsion stability. Emulsions normally break by one of three processes creaming (or sedimentation), flocculation or droplet coalescence. Creaming and sedimentation originate in density differences between the two phases. Emulsions often break by a mixture of the processes. The time it takes for an emulsion to break can vary from seconds to years. Emulsions are not normally inherently stable since they are not a thermodynamic state of matter. A stable emulsion normally needs some material to make the emulsion stable. Food law complicates this issue since various substances are listed as emulsifiers and stabilisers. Unfortunately, some natural substances that are extremely effective as emulsifiers in practice are not emulsifiers in law. An examination of those materials that do stabilise emulsions allows them to be classified as follows ... 

Surfactants such as sulfated fatty alcohols may be hydrated to a higher extent than the fatty alcohols alone and thus stabilize o/w emulsions. The eombination of an anionic and a nonionic srrrfactant has proved to be partieularly effeetive, sinee the electrostatic repulsion forces between the ionie surfaetant moleeules at the interface are reduced by the incorporation of nonionic molecules, thus improving the emulsion stability. The combination of cetyl/stearyl sulfate (Lanette E) and eetyl/ stearyl alcohol (Lanette 0) to yield an emulsifying eetyl/stearyl aleohol (Lanette N) is an example of this approach. The polar properties of this srrrfactant mixtrrre are dominant, and o/w creams are formed. In contrast to w/o systems, the stabilizing effect of the surfactant mixtirre is not mainly due to adsorption at the interfaee. Instead, the mixed surfactants are highly hydrated and fonn a lamellar network, whieh is... 

The presence of a thermodynamically incompatible polysaccharide in the aqueous phase can enhance the effective protein emulsifying capacity. The greater surface activity of the protein in the mixed biopolymer system facilitates the creation of smaller emulsion droplets, i.e., an increase in total surface area of the freshly prepared emulsion stabilized by the mixture of thermodynamically incompatible biopolymers (see Figure 3.4) (Dickinson and Semenova, 1992 Semenova el al., 1999a Tsapkina et al., 1992 Makri et al., 2005). It should be noted, however, that some hydrocolloids do cause a reduction in the protein emulsifying capacity by reducing the protein adsorption efficiency as a result of viscosity effects. 

Figure 7.25 Effect of the external aqueous phase pH on the release profile of vitamin Bi from multiple emulsions stabilized with WPI/xantlian gum as the external (secondary7) emulsifier ( ) pH = 7, (A) pH = 4, ( ) pH = 2. Reproduced from Benichou et al. (2004) with permission.

Emulsification is a stabilizing effect of proteins a lowering of the interfacial tension between immiscible components that allow the formation of a protective layer around oil droplets. The inherent properties of proteins or their molecular conformation, denaturation, aggregation, pH solubility, and susceptibility to divalent cations affect their performance in model and commercial emulsion systems. Emulsion capacity profiles of proteins closely resemble protein solubility curves and thus the factors that influence solubility properties (protein composition and structure, methods and conditions of extraction, processing, and storage) or treatments used to modify protein character also influence emulsifying properties. 

Up to this point we have concentrated on static effects. Often dynamic effects are equally important in stabilizing emulsions. An emulsifier, which can dissolve only slowly from the interface, has a stabilizing effect, because during the merging of two drops the total surface diminishes, i.e., emulsifier must desorb from the interface. 

For electrostatically or sterically interacting drops, emulsion viscosity will be higher when droplets are smaller. The viscosity will also be higher when the droplet sizes are relatively homogeneous, that is, when the drop size distribution is narrow rather than wide. The nature of the emulsifier can influence not just emulsion stability but also the size distribution, mean droplet size, and therefore the viscosity. To describe the effect of emulsifiers on emulsion viscosity Sherman [215] has suggested a modification of the Richardson Equation to the following form ... 

The effects of the concentration of the dispersed phase, emulsifier type and concentration on the inversion of water-in-oil emulsions have been described above. However, since in this chapter, it is proposed to examine the effects of a multi-ingredient system on emulsion stability, each of the following factors must be considered emulsion formation, stability, instability, effects of shear and effects of ingredients (Becher, 1977). 

Stability in plasma is an important requirement for IV emulsions as flocculated droplets may result in lung embolism. It was found that tocol-based emulsions stabilized by sodium deoxycholate/lecithins flocculated strongly when mixed with mouse, rat, and sheep plasma and serum, whereas soya oil-based emulsions with the same emulsifiers did not [123], It was hypothesized that this effect was caused by the adsorption of plasma proteins onto the tocol droplets (opsonization). Indeed, the steric stabilization of emulsions by incorporation of emulsifiers like poloxamer 188 or PEGylated phospholipids such as PEG5000PE proved to be effective in the stabilization of tocol-based emulsions in plasma. Conversely, in vitro studies were... 

Emulsion stability When the stability of a normal (not micro-) emulsion is very high in an exhaust treatment, then the softening effect decreases. An emulsion of moderate stability gives the best results, probably because small drops of the emulsified softener can exhaust to the fibre surface. Poor emulsion stability causes stains. 

Anionic Emuisifiers Anionic surfactants make about 75% of all the consumption of surface-active material. They are rarely encountered in the preparation of an actual food. The toxicity level of anionic sirrfactants is high and even small doses of anionic surfactants can cause allergic reactions and nausea. However, as they are very strong detergents, they can be used to solubilize components such as proteins. Due to their strong electrostatic repulsion, they are also very effective in stabilizing emulsions and are therefore often applied in technical emulsions such as emulsified lubricants. 

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