Effects of HLB value on oil-in-water emulsions: Droplet size, rheological behavior, zeta-potential, and creaming index

Using mixed nonionic surfactants Span/Tween, we investigated the effects of HLB value on the O/W emulsion stability and rheological behaviors. In this study, MS-01 (Span 60 & Tween 60) and MS-02 (Span 80 & Tween 80) was used as mixed nonionic surfactants. We considered required HLB value 10.85 and selected corresponding HLB value range 8–13. The droplet size distributions, droplet morphology, rheological properties, zeta-potential and creaming index of the emulsion samples were obtained to understand the mechanism and interaction of droplets in O/W emulsion. The results indicated that optimal HLB number for O/W emulsions was 10.8 and 10.7, while using MS-01 surfactant and MS-02 surfactant respectively. MS-01 (HLB = 10.8) sample and MS-02 (HLB = 10.7) sample showed smallest droplet size and highest zeta-potential value. Rheological properties are measured to understand rheological behaviors of emulsion samples. All emulsion samples showed no phase separation until 30 days storage time at 25 °C.