Oil-in-water emulsions are present in a wide set of applications, ranging from pharmaceuticals to beverages, to paints and speciality chemicals, and beyond.
In its simplest form, an emulsion is a binary system of immiscible liquids forming droplets. One of the main parameter to be monitored is its stability, which can be affected by external factors such as storage methods, time, temperature, osmolarity, pH, surfactant, shear stress. An unstable emulsion typically leads to droplet growth, for example due to coalescence, and it can have important consequences on e.g. the organoleptic properties of a soft drink or the efficacy and safety of a pharmaceutical product.
Particle analysis is therefore fundamental to the design, formulation and quality control of oil-in-water emulsions, enabling the observation of the growth process and the long-term stability of the particles. Classizer™ ONE is ideally suited for high-value applications in emulsion characterization, as the SPES / SPES² data provide physical and statistical information, as PSD, oversize, effective refractive index and an estimate of the behaviour and stability. Each of these parameters can be crucial to gain a better understanding and improve the quality of oil-in-water formulations.
