Production of oil in water emulsions in microchannels at high throughput: Evaluation of emulsions in view of cosmetic, nutraceutical or pharmaceutical applications

Abstract

This work investigates the quality of emulsions obtained from fast emulsification in a microsystem implemented at high throughput. The aim is to manufacture oil in water (O/W) emulsions in which bioactive ingredients could be encapsulated. These emulsions may be of interest for cosmetic, nutraceutical and/or pharmaceutical applications. A microsystem based on an improved cross-slot configuration is tested for production of emulsions with various formulations in a range of flow rate comprised in 100-600 mL/min. Dispersed lipid phase consists mainly in sunflower oil. The continuous aqueous phase is a Non-Newtonian fluid as it includes xanthan in order to stabilize the emulsions. Several commercial surfactants are also used to stabilize the emulsions. Their stability is examined during a storage period of approximately 30 days. For most tests, the evaluation of emulsions is based on a comparison with emulsions produced from a commercial laboratory rotor stator emulsifier. The results show only a few slight differences between the characteristics of emulsions generated in continuous in the microsystem and those obtained from the batch rotor-stator emulsifier. The results are therefore mostly comparable, which leads to the conclusion that microsystems can offer an interesting alternative to the small-scale production of emulsions.

Effect of Hydrophilic- Lipophilic Balance (HLB) Value on the Stability of Cosmetic Lotion Based on Walnut Oil (Canarium Indicium L.) Oil-in-Water Emulsion

“…Tween 80 known as hydrophilic emulsifier with 15 of HLB value, so it can bind more water droplets and produce emulsions with smaller phase et al, 2008). Emulsion with 14.5 HLB value with 32000 rpm during 5 min showed the best homogeneity because the intermolecular bonds between dispersed and dispersing phase is tight (Nehme et al, 2021) and the phase separation occurs slowly. The clear phase that formed still contains a lot of dispersed phase even though the phase separation is large (Colucci et al, 2020).…”

“…Creaming index was measured considering the height of total layer and serum layer as mentioned before. The serum layer rich with oil droplets due to their smaller density (Nehme et al, 2021). Creaming is a form of reversible emulsion instability, the clear layer on the bottom of emulsions can be stabilized again by shaking (Pujiastuti & Kristiani, 2019).…”

Novel Rotor-Stator Assembly Promotes the Emulsification Performance in an Inline High-Shear Mixer

“…Span is an important size distribution index to assess the emulsion, in which the smaller is the value of span , the more uniform is the DSD. , For example, in silicone oil emulsions for hair shampoo products and nanoparticle-in-oil-in-water emulsions for vaccine adjuvants, the emulsions with optimized span exhibit improved stability. ,, In food emulsions, the oil droplet size and DSD of the emulsion have great influences on the optical properties, flavor, texture, mouthfeel, and stability of the emulsion and can be controlled by adjusting processing conditions such as homogenizer type. − In addition, the DSD of emulsions also affects the particle size distribution (PSD) of microspheres to some extent, which are prepared by phase transition in emulsions, suspension polymerization, or other methods. ,− In column packing for chromatographic separation, the more homogeneous is the PSD of the agarose gel microspheres, the higher are the chromatographic resolution and operating flow rate, and thermally expandable microspheres with less uniform PSD in foaming ink will lead to nonuniform expansion and unfavorable printing results . A number of methods have been explored to modulate the DSD of emulsions, including membrane emulsification, high-shear mixer (HSM), agitators, microfluidics, and so on. ,,, In particular, Nehme et al compared the average droplet size, span , and stability of a sunflower oil–water system in a microsystem at high throughput with those in batch HSM in the presence of certain surfactants, and claimed that the microsystem could produce the emulsions with the average droplet size similar to that generated using HSM, whereas the droplet size distribution in the microsystem was broader than that in HSM. However, it is still a challenge to obtain the desirable DSD as well as a smaller span via facile and efficient routes in the view of industrial emulsification processes.…”

“…19 A number of methods have been explored to modulate the DSD of emulsions, including membrane emulsification, high-shear mixer (HSM), agitators, microfluidics, and so on. 11,12,16,20 In particular, Nehme et al 21 compared the average droplet size, span, and stability of a sunflower oil−water system in a microsystem at high throughput with those in batch HSM in the presence of certain surfactants, and claimed that the microsystem could produce the emulsions with the average droplet size similar to that generated using HSM, whereas the droplet size distribution in the microsystem was broader than that in HSM. However, it is still a challenge to obtain the desirable DSD as well as a smaller span via facile and efficient routes in the view of industrial emulsification processes.…”

Effects of octenyl succinic anhydride chemical modification and surfactant physical modification of bovine bone gelatin on the stabilization of fish oil-loaded emulsions

“…Oil-in-water emulsions are excellent carriers for the encapsulation and delivery of functional active substances in the fields of food and pharmaceutics ( Mwangi et al, 2020 , Nehme et al, 2021 ). They are important components of many foods such as milk, cream, fruit beverages, mayonnaise, and soups ( Sidari and Tofalo, 2019 , Yang et al, 2020 ).…”