Pseudo-ternary systems, representation

This study supports the assumption that the alcohol influences the phase behavior of oil-brine-surfactant system and its effect is related to the saturation concentration in the water-phase. On the other hand, the ternary phase diagram with a constant amount of the cosolvent seems to be more valuable for selecting microemulsion formulations than the pseudo-ternary representation in which both alcohol and surfactant are varied simultaneously. 

A quite rigorous study of the two-phase border for these systems was performed. For this, turbidity studies were conducted and the results are presented in Figure 10.5b as an expansion of the dilute region of the pseudo-ternary phase map. This solubility diagram is presented in a simplified two-dimensional representation. Since the amount of water in these systems is very high, this type of representation provides a better visualization. 

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