Identification of phases of various oil, surfactant/ co-surfactants and water system by ternary phase diagram.

The objective of this study was to select appropriate surfactants or blends of surfactants and oil to study the ternary phase diagram behavior and identify various phases obtained from the oil and surfactant/surfactant mixture combinations of different HLB. The phases include conventional emulsion, gel/viscous and transparent/translucent microemulsion. Pseudoternary phase diagrams of water, oil and S/Smix of various HLB values range of 9.65-15 were constructed by using water titration method at room temperature. Visual analysis, conductivity and dye dilution test (methylene blue) were performed after each addition and mixing of water, to identify phases as microemulsion, o/w or w/o emulsion (turbid/milky) and transparent gel/turbid viscous. High gel or viscous area was obtained with Tween 80 and surfactant mixture of Tween 80 and Span 80 with all oils. The results indicated that non-ionic surfactants and PG of different HLB values exhibited different pseudoternary phase diagram characteristics but no microemulsions originated from mineral and olive oils. The w/o emulsion occupied a large area in the ternary phase triangle when HLB value of the surfactant/Smix decreased. The o/w emulsion area was large with increasing HLB value of surfactant/Smix.