Evaluation of process conditions and characterization of particle size and stability of oil-in-water nanoemulsions

This article reports on the oil in water (o/w) nanoemulsions, which were prepared using a mixture of solvents (decane, toluene and cyclohexane) as oils and the mixtures of ethoxylated lauryl alcohols with various concentrations as surfactants with HLB values ranged from 10 to 12. The Ultra-Turrax (rotor-stator type) stirring and/or ultrasound processing were applied for varied processing times. The data show that the particle sizes in nanoemulsions prepared with ultrasound were smaller than those produced by stirring. The stability of these emulsions was, however, enhanced, when the mixtures were preliminary processed with the shearing agitator. The most stable nanoemulsions were obtained in 10 wt % surfactant mixture of the alcohols with HLB 11 in the shearing agitator.