ORIGINAL ARTICLE Water Solubilization Using Nonionic Surfactants from Renewable Sources in Microemulsion Systems

Abstract In this study the effect of temperature, NaCl and oils (hydrocarbons: C8–C16) on the formation and solubi-lization capacity of the systems of oil/monoacylglycerols (MAG):ethoxylated fatty alcohols (CEO20)/propylene gly-col (PG)/water was investigated. The effects of the surfac-tant mixture on the phase behavior and the concentration of water or oil in the systems were studied at three tempera-tures (50, 55, 60 C) and with varied NaCl solutions (0.5; 2; 11%). Electrical conductivity measurement, FTIR spec-troscopy and the DSC method were applied to determine the structure and type of the microemulsions formed. The dimension of the microemulsion droplets was characterized by dynamic light scattering. It has been stated that the concentration of CEO20 has a strong influence on the shape and extent of the microemulsion areas. Addition of a non-ionic surfactant to the mixture with MAG promotes an increase in the area of microemulsion formation in the phase diagrams, and these areas of isotropic region did not change considerably depending on the temperature, NaCl solution and oil type. It was found that, depending on the concentration of the surfactant mixture, it was possible to obtain U-type microemulsions with dispersed particles size distribution ranging from 25 to 50 nm and consisting of about 30–32 % of the water phase in the systems. The conditions under which the microemulsion region was found (electrolyte and temperature—insensitive, compara-tively low oil and surfactant concentration) could be highly useful in detergency