Development of eco-friendly submicron emulsions stabilized by a bio-derived gum

Many traditional organic solvents are being gradually replaced by ecofriendly alternatives. d-Limonene is a terpenic (bio)-solvent that fulfil the requirements to be considered a green solvent. d-Limonene sub-micron emulsions suffer from Ostwald ripening destabilization. In this study, we examined t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: Perez-Mosqueda, Luis María, Ramírez, Pablo, Trujillo-Cayado, Luis Alfonso, Santos, Jenifer, Muñoz, José
Format: article
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Repository:Brújula
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:brújula_____::aee0259920cb334d16dfa446951faaa3
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12412/7151
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Rosin gum
Limonene
Eco-friendly emulsions
Pluronic
Ostwald ripening
Description
Summary:Many traditional organic solvents are being gradually replaced by ecofriendly alternatives. d-Limonene is a terpenic (bio)-solvent that fulfil the requirements to be considered a green solvent. d-Limonene sub-micron emulsions suffer from Ostwald ripening destabilization. In this study, we examined the influence of the addition of a natural gum (rosin gum) to d-limonene in order to prevent Ostwald ripening. This contribution deals with the study of emulsions formulated with a mixture of d-limonene and rosin gum as dispersed phase and Pluronic PE9400 as emulsifier. The procedure followed for the development of these formulations was based on the application of product design principles. This led to the optimum ratio rosin gum/d-limonene and subsequently to the optimum surfactant concentration. The combination of different techniques (Rheology, Laser Diffraction and Multiple Light Scattering) was demonstrated to be a powerful tool to assist in the prediction of the emulsions destabilisation process. Not only did the addition of rosin gum highly increase the stability of these emulsions by inhibiting the Ostwald ripening, but it also reduced the emulsions droplet size. Thus, we found that stable sub-micron d-limonene-in-water emulsions have been obtained in the range 3-6 wt% Pluronic PE-9400 by means of a single-step rotor/stator homogenising process.