Calorimetry Technique for Observing the Evolution of Dispersed Droplets of Concentrated Water-in-Oil (W/O) Emulsion during Preparation, Storage and Destabilization

Abstract

In this work, the evolution of dispersed droplets in a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion during formation, storage, and destabilization was observed using a calorimetry technique. The emulsion was prepared by dispersing drop by drop an aqueous phase into an oil continuous phase at room temperature using a rotor-stator homogenizer. The evolution of droplets during (1) preparation; (2) storage; and (3) destabilization was observed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The samples were gently cooled-down below its solid-liquid equilibrium temperature then heated back above the melting point to determine its freezing temperature. The energy released during the process was recorded in order to get information about the water droplet dispersion state. The mean droplet size distribution of the sample emulsion was correlated to its freezing temperature and the morphology was followed by optical microscopy. The results indicated that the calorimetry technique is so far a very good technique of characterization concentrated W/O emulsions.