4/12/2017 HLB 

– The Easiest Way to Create An Emulsion – Chemists Corner

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Article by: Kelly Dobos

As a cosmetic chemist you will undoubtedly be asked

to make products that require you to combine materials Get this
that aren’t easily compatible.   Fortunately, there is a
Free
Formulation
system that can help you get started.
Guide
Now!
Cosmetic Emulsions

Emulsions are one of the most common forms of

cosmetic products. You ༸nd them in skin lotions, make-
up, and even hair products. By de༸nition an emulsion is
a dispersion of two or more immiscible materials,
Name:
where one phase, also know as the internal phase, is
dispersed in the continuous or external phase.
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Cosmetic emulsions are classi༸ed as oil in water (O/W), Email:

water in oil (W/O) and water in silicone (W/Si). Multiple

emulsions such as oil in water in oil (W/O/W) are also
possible. Oil in water emulsions are the most common
due to preferable cost and light skin feel. We respect your email

privacy
In order to create an oil in water emulsion (one that
remains stable for a long enough time), work must be
done to overcome the interfacial tension between the
two phases. This can be achieved by mixing; however
mixing even at very high rates is not enough to provide
long term stability.  An emulsi༸er or combination of
emulsi༸ers is needed to stabilize droplets of the
dispersed phase.  For example, simple oil in vinegar
salad dressings will separate rapidly without the use of
an emulsi༸er like mustard.

Using Surfactants

In this industry, we use surfactants to create emulsions.

Surfactants are molecules that have a hydrophobic (oil
soluble) and an effective hydrophilic (water soluble)
portion. They act as emulsi༸ers by signi༸cantly
lowering the interfacial tension and decreasing the
coalescence of dispersed droplets.

HLB Formulating

Figuring out what surfactant to use for any speci༸c

formula will be a challenge you face as a cosmetic
chemist. There is a great deal of research on
surfactants and their behavior. But studying the
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thermodynamic equations and phase diagrams

associated with surfactants can be a daunting task, not
to mention the number of surfactants available to the
formulator is vast. Luckily for us, William C. Grif༸n
developed a way to streamline the selection of
surfactants by utilizing the ratio of the hydrophobic to
the hydrophilic portion of the molecule.  This method is
referred to as the HLB (Hydrophile Lipophile Balance)
method. Grif༸n ༸rst presented this method at meeting
of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic
Chemists in 1949 and it is still widely used today. He
published the method shortly there after.1 (A bit of trivia
for you, the Chicago Chapter was the ༸rst chapter
formed in Society of Cosmetic Chemists)

The HLB method applies to nonionic (uncharged)

surfactants but attempts have been made to broaden
the concepts to other surfactant types including
silicone surfactants. And using the HLB system to
create emulsions is quite simple. All you have to do is
calculate the HLB number of your surfactant, then the
Required HLB for the oil phase and match the two
numbers.

Determining the HLB of a surfactant

A typical nonionic emulsi༸er (e.g. Laureth-4) contains

an ethylene oxide groups or polyhydric alcohol
hydrophilic portions with a fatty alcohol hydrophobic
portion. The HLB for a nonionic surfactant can be
calculated as follows:

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HLB = Weight % Hydrophile/5

Example 1: HLB calculation for Laureth-4

Molecular weight of ethoxylate portion = 176

Molecular weight of lauryl alcohol = 186

Wt. % Hydrophile = (176/(176+186)) x 100 = 48.6%

HLB = 48.6/5 = 9.7

Based on the calculation, surfactants with high HLB

values will be more water soluble and those with low
HLB values are more oil soluble. Division by 5 just
allows for a compact, easy to use scale. The calculation
is simple, but you won’t usually have to ༸gure it out
since most surfactant HLB values are readily available
through literature references and surfactant suppliers.

Calculating HLB of oil phase

Each lipophilic ingredient in the oil phase has its own

required HLB. These required HLB values are
determined experimentally, however a method utilizing
solubility parameters has been proposed by Vaughan
and Rice.2 Required HLB values for some common oil
phase ingredients are available to the formulator in
literature. The Req’d HLB values are approximate and
can vary by about ± 1 unit. It is also important to keep in
mind that cosmetic emulsions often have complex oil
phases with several components. The required HLB of
an oil phase mixture can be calculated by ༸rst

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calculating the percent of the oil phase each ingredient

contributes. This percentage is then multiplied by the
required HLB for each of those ingredients and the
results are summed.

Example 2: Calculation of required HLB for an oil

phase mixture

The oil phase is 10% of the total formulation and

consists of:

4% Shea butter, 40% of the oil phase. Req’d HLB of 8.

3% Jojoba oil, 30% of the oil phase. Req’d HLB of 6.5.

3% Sun༸ower seed oil, 30% of the oil phase. Req’d HLB

of 7.

Total required HLB:

Shea butter contribution 0.4 x 8 = 3.20

Jojoba oil contribution 0.3 x 6.5 = 1.95

Sun༸ower oil contribution 0.3 x 7 = 2.10

Total Req’d HLB = 7.25

You can now select emulsi༸ers to match the required

HLB of the oil phase and create an emulsion. A blend of
high and low HLB surfactants is often used to achieve
the desired value in part because of demonstrated
effectiveness and ef༸ciencies in packing at the
interface. The HLB for the surfactant blend is calculated
in same manner as the required HLB for a blend.
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Example 3: Calculation of HLB for a surfactant mixture

The surfactant mixture is a 70/30 blend of Steareth-2

and Steareth-21.

Total HLB:

Steareth-2 contribution 0.7 x 4.9 = 3.43

Steareth-21 contribution 0.3x 15.5 = 4.65

Total HLB = 8.08

In order to match the HLB of a particular oil phase, it is

easiest to set up a spreadsheet with the calculation and
vary the percentages of each emulsi༸er in increments
of 5% to ༸nd the right ratio.

Limitations of HLB

Although a very useful tool, the HLB system does have

some limitations. For example additional water phase
ingredients are not considered but still may impact the
stability. The method also does not provide information
as to how much surfactant is needed, but 2 to 4%
surfactant is a good starting point to begin further
optimization for stability. So it is important to keep in
mind that the HLB system is not absolute in prediction
of your formulations behavior, but a very good starting
point for achieving emulsi༸cation.

References

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1. Grif༸n WC; Calculation of HLB Values of Non-Ionic

Surfactants, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic
Chemists; 1954. Vol. 5, pp 249-235

2. Vaughan, C.D. Rice, Dennis A.; Predicting O/W

Emulsion Stability by the “Required HLB Equation”;
Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology; 1990.
Vol. 11 (1), pp 83 — 91.

     

 TAGS: cosmetic science emulsions Formulating

lotions

 143

143 comments
reza

hi
I want to make oil in water emulsion and i have :
xantangum / guargum / acassia / resingum /
vegetebel oil (sun༸ower) / oil essens / pectin /
lecetin / suger / mustard / titanium oxied and
sure water !
how to make emulssion with above material ( 2 /
or more ) that it became very very white and
༸uent . thanks

 REPLY

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Christina

So if you want to create a water-in-oil emulsion is

it that all you have to do is make sure your oil
phase has a required HLB between 7 and 11 and
that the emulsi༸er or blend of emulsi༸ers you use
match that required HLB of between 7 and 11?

Does the difference between a water-in-oil

emulsion and an oil-in-water emulsion only come
down to the range (7-11 for water in oil, 12-16 for
oil in water) of the HLB of the emusli༸ers/required
HLB of the oil phase that you use?

I want to make a water-in-oil emulsion, couldn’t

༸nd info on how to do so or how they differ from
an oil-in-water emulsion until I came across info
on the HLB system, is it really that simple? Am I
missing anything?

Thanks, I’d really appreciate your help!

 REPLY

Kelly

Hi Christina
Here is a link a much more detailed write up
of the HLB by none other than Bill Griffen
himself.
http://www.༸rp.ula.ve/archivos/historicos/76_Book_HLB_ICI.pdf
It’s worth noting that a water in oil formula
is hard to stabilize with the HLB method
alone and there are modern polymeric
emulsi༸ers that help. Electrolytes like
magnesium sulfate are also added to the
water phase to assist in stability and

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homogenizing to reduce droplet size of the

oil phase. Hope this helps.

 REPLY

Nejad Abbasi

Yes , You are right

 REPLY

kalyani

dear sir,
I want to make an castoroil in water
emulsion,please tell suitable nonionic emulsi༸er
and hlb value for emulsion.

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

You can ༸nd that information here.

http://www.theherbarie.com/༸les/resource-
center/formulating/Emulsi༸ers_HLB_Values.pdf

 REPLY

chris meyer

so if I’m reading the link to the ICI packet right…I

have an emulsion I’m trying to make which is a oil
in water emulsion with 1% solid castor wax and
48% paraf༸n oil….I am to heat the oil and melt
the wax into it…add an emulsi༸er blend(?) and
then heat water to 15degrees over the melt pt of

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the wax and slowly add the hot water to the

oil/wax/emulsi༸er blend under propeller mixing
then after addition slowly start cooling and
should get an o/w emulsion? everything I’ve tried
has given me a w/o emulsion. Procedure lists
sorbitan trioleate at <1% which is odd as its a low
HLB emulsi༸er….no other emulsi༸er is listed????
omitted by mistake/purpose???

 REPLY

chris meyer

well they list starch at <1% but I ༸gured that

was just a thickener for the aqueous phase
to prevent creaming….

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

Well, you have a lot of oil to be creating an

oil in water emulsion! I’d suggest you post
your problem in our forum for more ideas.
http://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk

 REPLY

Valentines Day Cards 2016

I just like the valuable info you supply for your

articles.
I’ll bookmark your weblog and take a look at once
more right here regularly.
I’m slightly certain I will be informed a lot of new

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stuff proper right here!

Best of luck for the next!

 REPLY

majid

hello there
i need to crude oil in water emulsion. can you help
me about suitable emulsi༸er for long time?
email: [email protected]
thanks

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

Hello – Sorry this is a site about cosmetic

chemistry so we don’t have that
information. I’d suggest you post it in our
forum.
http://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk

 REPLY

m.

Hello there,
Does anybody know the HLB value for mustard
oil??? Can’t ༸nd it anywhere….
Will appreciate a reply!

 REPLY

Christine

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Hi there, was just wondering if anyone knows the

HLB value for Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate? I have
the Granules. Any info is appreciated, thanks.

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

Christine
I was unable to ༸nd a published value when
searching, but you should be able to
perform a calculation as noted or above or
contact the supplier as they should have
this information readily available.

 REPLY

Asim Shaikh

Hello

Please email me how I can make silicon emulsion

being used to make polish car dashboard
The name silicone oil, viscosity and emulsi༸ers
that can be used with the method of making me
an email.

best regard
ASIM Shaikh

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

I would suggest you post your question in

our forum.
http://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk
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 REPLY

Mike

Hi there!
I am very new to this and am wanting to make a
saop spray for my plants. I use stearyl alcohol to
emulsify my oil and soap base; and it works quite
nicely. However that is the concentrate. When I
add 1oz of concentrate to 1gal of water, I have to
constatly shake as I’m spraying. Is there anything
that would help me create a stable emulsion with
these ratios of oil:water? Thank you so much for
you any help that is able to be offered.

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

Stearyl alcohol is not an emulsi༸er by

itself… it can be a co-emulsi༸er and help
provide structure in creams and lotions. You
should consider selecting a combination of
surfactants that match the HLB of your oil
phase to emulsify.

 REPLY

Mike

I’ve got the oil and soap base emulsi༸ed

with the stearyl. Where can I ༸nd a list of
HLB. Like i use canola oil infused with
rosemary and cayenne

 REPLY

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Joseph Vernice

Hello Mike. Take a look at this web

reference.
http://www.༸rp.ula.ve/archivos/historicos/76_Book_HLB_ICI.pdf

Best regards,
Joe

 REPLY

Dilfredo Ruiz

Hi Joseph, I am venezuelan and didn’t knew

this site. Very nice info, thanks

JOSE LUIS

HI, COULD SOMEONE HELP ME DO Sodium

laureth sulfate, TRANSPARENT LIQUID SOAP, HE
USED lauryl alcohol 7 MOL HLB 12.3 sulfonated I
HAVE BUT I CAN BE THE AROMA emulsify
TURBIO ANY COMMENT THE GREETINGS
agradesco.

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

I’d suggest you post this question in our

cosmetic science forum.

 REPLY

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john arthur (pharmacist)

to create an emulsion the proportion is….oil

water gum 4:2:1
mix in a mortar with pestle..you get your emulsion
simple. good luck

 REPLY

Mark

Hello everyone,

I’m pretty new to this ༸eld and I need help. Now i

understand how to calculate the HLB of oil phase
and the required HLB of surfactants phase. One
question though is what happens if the HLB of
surfactants is much greater than required HLB of
oil phase ? Is it still going to work? Or do they
have to match the number to have stable
emulsion?

Thank you

 REPLY

terry

Hey there, I assume you haven’t gotten an

answer, trying to help you here if I can. I
have followed this person’s teaching’s for
the last year or so, she’s very well known as
a cosmetic chemist. Perhaps you’ve heard
of Susan J. Barclay? her blog, Point Of
Interest! is amazing, I almost guarantee you
could likely ༸nd your answer there. She will
even assist but have a ༸ip through the

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myriad of posts. It’ll help, I’m sure. She’s all

over Youtube as well.

Good luck, sorry I can’t answer you directly,

I’m swamped as it is.

 REPLY

Francoios Bolduc

The HLB of the emulsifying surfactant

”must” be very near the one you need. If it is
too low or too high it will not work. But if
you use two or three emulsi༸ers of different
HLB, then you can do a mixture of them to
have the right HLB you need within a range
of HLB. Then you will have more tolerance
of HLB deviations and better results.

 REPLY

Michael Whyte

How do you calculate the following quantities…

seem to be stuck. Anybody have an idea?
A 35% Polyoxyethylene (20) oleyl ether (HLB 20)
and 65% Polyoxyethylene (2) cetyl ether (HLB 5)
was found to be optimal for a particular emulsion
system.
What quantities of Sorbitan monoleate (HLB 4.3)
and Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monopalmitate
(HLB 15.6) should be used to stabilize this
system.

 REPLY

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Matt

The HLB of the POE 20 oleyl ether is

actually about 15.6 and the HLB of the POE
2 cetyl ether is 5.6, so these are very close
to the two alternate materials. I would
suggest trying the same original ratio
(35/65) and see how it does. Because the
SMO is slightly lower than the POE 2 cetyl
ether, you may have to shift this ratio
slightly toward the POE SMP (40/60). HLB is
not an exact science, though, so try a few
blends and see what ratio gives the best
particle size and stability.

 REPLY

kylie88

Hello, I want to formulate a coQ10 cream

regarding my research studies. My ingredients
include coQ10, olive oil, cetyl alcohol, glyceryl
monosterate, tween 80, span 80, propylene glycol
and water. May I ask how to calculate 3
emulsi༸ers? Can I just calculate the quantity
required for emulsifers of span and tween only?
For calculation of oil base, that’s mean just
consider calculation for olive oil and cetyl alcohol
only not included propylene glycol? Thank you so
much =)

 REPLY

Philip Haw

when making oil-in-water emulsions using the

HLB system the main idea is to lower the

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interfacial tension between the combined oil

phase and the combined water phase. At the
lowest interfacial tension it takes the least
amount of mechanical energy to form the
emulsion and it takes the least amount of
surfactant to maintain emulsion stability. Using
the general principles of the HLB system allows
you to do a paper calculation of the theoretical
required HLB of your unique oil phase in plain
water and from that starting point you have the
highest likelihood of success. I worked for Mr. Bill
Grif༸n at ATLAS and ICI and for years taught the
HLB system to our customers. I know from
personal experience what a time saver applying
the HLB system can be. For more information on
HLB I suggest going to the CRODA website. The
current CRODA company is the “keeper of the
༸ame” on HLB and can provide you with a list of
required HLB’s for most of the common cosmetic
ingredients. HLB theory is also very successfully
applied to the crop protection industry and to
many industrial applications.

 REPLY

robert

vorrei fare un emulsione siliconica o/a

latteo olio siliconico 350 cts che tipo di
emulsionante va aggiunta?

 REPLY

yaswanth

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while calculating HLB for oil phase, we can

water/oil phase miscible components ????
eg: Propylene glycol

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

No, these ingredients are not included in the

calculation.

 REPLY

Emma

Well, I guess my favorite color is brown, too,

because I love this card, Michele! That
༸ower is gorgeous — must ༸nd some!
Do281&n#7;t cry too much today

 REPLY

Madhur

Hi All,
I need emulsify following
15 gm Palm Oil
85 gm High Fructose Corn Syrup( corn syrup has
50% Solids and 50% water)
is it possible if yes, what emulsi༸ers should i use
regards,
Madhur

 REPLY

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Perry Romanowski

I’d suggest you ask your question in our

cosmetic science forum.

 REPLY

sajeesh

Sir

I am interested to form emusion of oil in

water.The size of oilm droplets i am expecting is
nearly 15 um.I have mineral oil and DI water and
Tween 80 as the surfactant .Would you suggest
me any method

 REPLY

chirag

Hello…
If I want to stable emulsion of 20% toluene in
remaining water using non ionic surfactant
(combination or single)
Then how can calculate reqired HLB for toluene
(oil) from their structure without experiment for
only prediction

 REPLY

free download Romadoria hack

Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with

the images
on this blog loading? I’m trying to ༸gure out if its a
problem on

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my end or if it’s thee blog. Any suggestions would

be greatly appreciated.

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

The problem is with our website. We had a

major crash and lost all pictures. We’re
trying to restore but it will take some time.

 REPLY

David

Anybody got an idea of the required HLB of

Ozokerite Wax?

 REPLY

MIC

Can anyone tell me the HLB value for Petroleum

Jelly in a W/O emulsion

 REPLY

Herb

How does one use the HLB system with multiple

emulsi༸ers? I often see formulations that have 4
emulsi༸ers: 2 low HLB and 2 high HLB numbers.
sometimes 1 low HLB, 1 mid-range and 1 hi HLB?

 REPLY

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masume

Hello

Please email me how I can make silicon emulsion

being used to make polish car dashboard
The name silicone oil, viscosity and emulsi༸ers
that can be used with the method of making me
an email.

best regard
biglar

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

Hello – this comment is off topic. If you are

looking for an answer I’d encourage you to
post it in the cosmetic science discussion
board here.

http://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk

 REPLY

Helen

Dear Kelly,
How can a mixture of petroleum jelly, mineral oil,
castor oil and glycerine be emulsi༸ed

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

Hi Helen,
If you use the HLB method, you must
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perform the calculations above for your oil

phase.

 REPLY

Helen

Dear Kelly,
Thank you for the information on HLB
method. Do you have a list of required HLB
for cosmetic ingredients

 REPLY

Kelly

Sorry, I don’t have a list. But you should be

able to easily ༸nd values for common
ingredients on the web.

 REPLY

maria

dear kelly,

is the calculation will be the same for multiple

emulsion w/o/w. do i have to calculate for
primary w/o ༸rst and then for secondary o/w later
to get the desired HLB for multiple emulsion. or it
has its own calculation?or i can just use
surfactant with necessary value of HLB for both
as there are no mixture of surfactant in both
primary and secondary emulsion. thank you

 REPLY

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Kelly

Hi Maria,
Multiple emulsions can be a little more
tricky. I don’t have much experience
creating them but here is the title of an
article which you should ༸nd helpful.

Multiple W/O/W emulsions-Using the

required HLB for emulsi༸er evaluation.
Authors – Schmidts, T., Dobler, D., Guldan,
A.C., Paulus, N., Runkel, F.,
Journal – Colloids and Surfaces A:
Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects

 REPLY

maria

thanks kelly for your reply. i really appreciate

it. this article is very helpful for me as i’m
now developing a formulation for multiple
emulsion for my research studies. thanks
again!

 REPLY

sohail khan

Dear,
I have done several trial & error but ༸nally couldn’t
get clear/transparent emulsion.I donno where the
problem is?Required HLB for oils & Hlb of my
surfactant all is maintain somehow in my little
knowledge.But still solution become milky/to
cloudy.I am trying to mix some of my essential oil
blend like(Tea-tree,thyme, eucalyptus,cardamom,

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cinnamon,spearmint)to puri༸ed water to get a

clear solution without using any alcohol. But
always my solution become milky even oil &
water mixed properly.Could anyone suggest
some way to come out form the error?

 REPLY

Perry Romanowski

I would suggest you post this question to

the forum as you might receive more
responses.
http://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk

 REPLY

aleem

sohail u can increase your emulsi༸er and

use a sonolator to reduce emulsion particle
size so it become transparant.

 REPLY

Armando

Could you tell me how to calculate the required

HLB for menthol and for peppermint and
spearmint oils.

Thanks,

 REPLY

Kelly
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You can search for published values or

determine experimentally. To determine
experimentally you would prepare
emulsions with surfactant blends from high
to low HLB values and the one that is most
stable would assigned as the required HLB.

 REPLY

hasani

dear kelly
thanks for your guidance .i do that……
any one can help to me?

 REPLY

hasni

dear kelly:
can you answer to me?
my problem is about making a stable emulsion
w/o
oil is vaseline and system HLBis about 7.35
thanks for your guidance .

 REPLY

Kelly

hasni,
You will have to determine determine the
right emulsi༸er system experimentally.

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hasani

i want to make a stable emulsion from water(that

some salts are solved in it)and
vaseline(petroleum jelly)
which kind of emulsi༸er is suitable for it?i use of
GMS but it was separated after some
minute,however is it posible that after
solidi༸cation of cream and remelting it i have a
permanent emulsion?

 REPLY

Kate

So… if you calculate the required HLB of an Oil

Phase and the result is around 3-8, the emulsion
will be an w/o.
And if you calculate the required HLB of an oil
Phase and the resulst i 9 or above, the emulsion
will be an o/w.

Is this true???

 REPLY

Rina

What type of emulsi༸er can replace PGPR in

emulsion that is added to the oil at 0.1%

 REPLY

Perry

That’s not enough information about the

formula to give you a credible answer.

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 REPLY

Rina

Water soluble material is disolved in 24%

water. 10% PGPR is added to the oil phase.
this emulsion at 0.1% will be added to the
oil.

 REPLY

Kelly

Try alternate low HLB emulsi༸ers. You can

༸nd HLB values for a range of surfactants
just by searching online.

 REPLY

Wesley

I have some questions to grit or small particulate

that will go away upon a little rubbing in the ༸nal
product. Would this be a for of ༸ake that is a fall
out in the emulsion or is this a solid particle ༸lm
that could be forming in a formula?

We are currently using polyglyceryl-3-

diisostearate as well as glycerin.
Oils: Mineral Oil, Cream Petro, Synthetic Beeswax
which accounts for about 50% and then water is
approximately 30%. Any help/insight would be
greatly appreciated!

 REPLY

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Faiz

Dear
I want to make an emulsion of Menthol and
eucalyptus oil in water. Please suggest me some
solution.
Thanks

 REPLY

AK

Hi

I would like to make a sprayable sun༸ower oil

emulsion. What emusli༸er should I use and in
what proportion? Thanks

 REPLY

Chalie C

Dear Kelly,
Could you kindly help me in how to make a stable
silicon emulsion and a stearic acid emulsion
using a 2 stage homogenizer?
Thanks in advance and congratulations for your
article.
Charlie C.

 REPLY

scarroll

How to get an o/w emulsion?

If oil phase HLB required is 7.2, and you ad a high
HLB emulsi༸er (15.5) and and low HLB emulsi༸er

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(4.4) in a ratio that is 7.2, what type of emulsion

do you get? I thought unless HLB was > 10 (or
there abouts) that you’d get a w/o

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

You are correct, lower HLB surfactants (4-6)

are W/O emulsi༸ers but other formulation
factors like the size of the oil phase can
effect formula type. You can simply test
what type you have by trying to dilute the
༸nal product with water. A W/O does not
dilute while a O/W would/

 REPLY

Cindy

I need to a sprayable oil-in-water. My oil, soy bean

oil, has a HLB of 7. I have tried soy lecithin (HLB
=7) and still had major separation. Any ideas on
any other emulsi༸ers I can use?
Thanks1

 REPLY

Kelly

Hi Cindy,
Keep in mind that it best to use a high HLB
and low HLB in combination to match the
required HLB. Also the level of emulsi༸er
may need to be inceased.

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 REPLY

Organic Herbs

I ༸nd it so encouraging that I’m not the only

human out there over the age of 20 who doesn’t
know any of this!
Time to learn *about all of it*.

 REPLY

Alia sina

Hi there, i have aproblem in mixing jojoba oil &

glycerin using Tween 80 at 8% & span 8o at12 %
the emulsion separate , did Iuse the right
emulsi༸er or the % is wrong please repply & many
thanks

 REPLY

Kelly

While it looks like your HLB is balanced,

that’s quite a lot of emulsi༸er. Start with 2 to
4%. Also, is glycerin the only component of
your external phase? If so the HLB method
may not be a good predictor for stability.

 REPLY

George p

Hi all
I want to ask if there is any negative effect of

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using too much emulsi༸er in a water in oil cream(

except for paying more money)

I mean can excess emulsi༸ers cause

instability???

One of my experiments has shown that using 3%

of sorbitan sesquioleate is less stable than using
2% !!!!

Can any one answer or guide me?

Second, I want to ask about cooling phase,

should it be done in very cold water bath and
done quickly or it is better to cool the cream
slowly !!!

Please help me ?

Thanks in advance

George

 REPLY

solomon

Hi all,
i want to create different conditions and
substrates for biosurfactant production by a
Bacillus subtilis strain. How do i determine the
HLB value of the biosurfactants that will be
produced?

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

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You would need to know the structure of

your surfactant, and keep in mind, HLB
applies to ethoxylated nonionic surfactants.
I’m not familiar with biosurfactant
structures, so I don’t know whether the HLB
method applies.

 REPLY

Dennis A

You can make some VERY approximate

estimates by observing solubility in water
as follows:

Dispersability HLB Range

None in water 1-4
Poor 3-6
Milky w/ vigorous agitation 6-8
Stable milky dispersion 8-10
Translucent 10-13
Clear solution 13+

(copied without permission from ICI

publication “The HLB System”)

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

Whoa! You have an old ICI publication? I’m

jealous.

 REPLY

Phili Haw

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you can get the HLB talk from CRODA. Just

go to their website. I am retired from
CRODA and have given the talk many times.

 REPLY

Jeffrey Ehlinger

Kelly,
Look what I stumbled upon today while
“Googling” stuff:
http://www.༸rp.ula.ve/archivos/historicos/76_Book_HLB_ICI.pdf
Don’t you just love the Interwebs!?

 REPLY

sajida

i want to know which emulsi༸ers aresuitable to

dissolve perraf༸n in silicone/water emulsion.as
perraf༸n oils are non polar so kindly do guid me?

 REPLY

phum

Hello,George
How can I make an easiest way to make an
emulsi༸er?

P.S.I want the answer fastest as you can.

Phum

 REPLY

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Geo

hey phum … would u please explain ur

question more … sorry for that but i didn’t
get the question to answer u !

 REPLY

Abbasi

Thanks so much.
I want to ask one question:
How i can prepare an EC of mineral oil(raw liquid
parra༸n oil)?I know some emulsi༸ers can use for
it but with high using level(about 8%-10 %).I want
to use a suitable emusi༸er with lower usage than
it.
regards
Abbasi

 REPLY

George

hey all …

I want to prepare the following formula:

1- 40 g vaseline

2- 40 g water

3- 8 g emulsi༸er ( i shose Span 60″sorbitan

monostearate, HLB = 4.7 and tween 60, hlb =
14.9): 7 g span 60 + 1 g tween 60)

i heated to 70 for the oily phase and 73 for the

water phase ..

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i mixed with a large stirring around 3000 RPM…

the emulsion created is great .. but it lack the

stability in 50 C

CAN ANYONE OF U EXPLAIN !!! alghough i

balanced the HLB !!

 REPLY

Kelly Dobos

Hi George,
By the looks of it you are trying to create a
w/o formulation. These are very tricky
formulations to produce with only
ethoxylated emulsi༸ers. Typically, waxes are
added to the oil phase to help stbailize
these types of emulsions and
homogenization is a must. You may want to
adjust your oil phase by adding oils with
higher required HLBs and try making a o/w
emulsion before attempting a w/o with this
method.

 REPLY

George

hi Kelly .. .༸rst i would like to thank u for this

quick response

i know that it is better to put some waxes…

but i felt that the cream is thick enough due
to the large amount of SPAN 60 WAX …
still i don’t want to do O/W cream.. inversely,
i’m insisting on W/O creams… if u can help

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me in this .. because till now none of my

formulas was stable at 50 Centigrate for
more than 48 hours …( the oily phase
begine to separate !!!! )

thanks a lot in advance kelly

 REPLY

kelly

Hi George
You are probably going to have to do some
research on stabilizing these types of
formulas and other ingredients you can use.
Good luck with your formulation. -Kelly

 REPLY

Philip Haw

your stability failed at elevated temperature

because of the melting point of the fatty
portion of the emulsi༸er. At 50C the high
HLB surfactant has a little shrinking of the
EO chain (makes it a slightly lower HLB) and
you have to remember that heat is energy
and the surfactants start to want to “dance”
away from their partners.
The most simple ༸x is to add some
cosmetic polymer to the water phase.
Something like one of the carbomers from
Lubrizol or Structure Solanace from
AxoNobel (formerly National Starch).
Another thing to remember is to continue
stirring down through the set point. This
means to stir down below 30C. The reason
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for this is if you have any crystalline

material like fatty alcohol you want to make
sure that it has a chance to start to re-
crystalize and for the liquid gel networks
around the dispersed droplets of the oil
phase

 REPLY

Clive

My own view is that making successful

emulsions is more of an art than a science. My
༸rst emulsion, looking back on it, was actually a
butter: it contained 25% lipids, of which 15% was
shea. It had a salmon colour because of the
green tea extract in it. I thought it was a failure,
but got demands to make more from test
customers who really loved it. More lately I’ve
been more into using desert plant bioactives.

 REPLY

Saravanan

How to test the stability of emulsion

 REPLY

Perry

Saravanan – see our blog post about

stability testing.

 REPLY

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DP Mainali

HLB value is a usefull tool but chances of product

unsafety…

 REPLY

muhammad

i want understand but i cant ,some one tell me?

 REPLY

Perry

Muhammad,
Your question is too vague to answer.

 REPLY

Kelly

1) Simple mixing with an impeller blade is all that

is need to perform the testing.
2) As mentioned above, there is no method for
calculating the quantity of surfactants needed.
You must determine the quantity experimentally.
3) In general, you slowly add the expected internal
phase to the expected external phase. I do not
have a formal procedure to share.
4) In general, the external phase should account
for >= 26% of the total composition for traditional
emulsions based on geometrical consideration of
hexagonally packed spheres.

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BALASAHEB

Dear kelly, I just want to know the process of how

to make different w/o and o/w emulsions of
organic solvents like toluene, hexane, benzene,
cyclo hexane etc.. but my problem is that 1) how
to set up apparatus for emulsions preparation?
2) how to calculate required qty of surfactant ?
3) what will be mode of addition of compounds ie
water phase ༸rst or oil phase ༸rst….pls give me
experimental procdure if possible. 4) I want some
std qties for w/o and o/w emulsions of organic
solvents as oil phase?
expecting kind reply

 REPLY

Kelly

Dear Jagat,
You must experimentally determine you required
HLB as mentioned about by observing stability
with the oil phase and various surfactant
combinations to achieved different HLB values.
We cannot help until you have done this.

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

sir good morning

i am taking 35% oil and formulating by taking
tween 80 and span 80..i am geting the
emulsi༸cation aftera week its geting separated .
so kindly guide me to sucess my project

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jagat jyoti sahu

sir good morning

sir i have read your all suggestion,its very
impressive. sir actually iam taking 40% essential
oil and rest is water and excipient.so please guide
me to formulate the cream. hope i wil get some
detail idea.yours faithfully

 REPLY

Perry

@Jagat – I would suggest you post your question

to the cosmetic science forum to see if someone
there can answer it for you.

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

sir please help me to my above question

 REPLY

Perry

@Jagat – thank you for your questions.

Unfortunately, we do not have the protocol
or information you seek.

 REPLY

Kelly

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Hi Alicia,
I would use glyceryl stearate, lecithin can have
some draw backs with stability my opinion. 7%
emulsi༸ers seems like a high starting point even
for your large oil phase. I would place range of
emulsi༸er levels on stability to determine an
optimum level. -Kelly

 REPLY

alicia

So I’m thinking to do a blend of 40/60 stearic acid

and glyceryl stearate:
40% x HLB 15 = 6
60% x HLB 4 = 2.4 = total 8.4 to match my recipe’s
HLB requirement (total HLB of all the ingredients
in my oil phase)

I saw a rough ratio of 7:1 (oil phase: emulsi༸er)

recommended somewhere in the archives here..
which would mean I require approx 7% total
emulsi༸ers as my oil phase makes up 49% of the
total formulation

Would you please con༸rm am I on the right track

with these calcs?

 REPLY

alicia

Thank you Kelly for your response, much

appreciated!
I am using stearic acid and/ or stearyl alcohol for
the high HLB component. From a formulator’s
point of view would you recommend glyceryl

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stearate OR hydrogenated lecithin for the lower

value surfactant?
trying to go “nature-identical” as much as possible
with the products..but saying that would very
much like to get the texture beautiful and stable!

 REPLY

Kelly

Hi Alicia,
You are correct, you would need a combination of
low and high HLB surfactants to emulsify using
the HLB system. Or you can try creating soap
based emulsion by neutralizing the stearic acid
with a base like triethanolamine. -Kelly

 REPLY

alicia

I’m just learning about the HLB system and have

been trying to perfect the texture of a cream. It
has equal proportion of water to oil, has a little
grittiness and just a small amount of water
separating out. Have done all calculations and
come to a total required HLB of 8.36…
And now to select the emulsi༸cation system.
Would you mind clarifying how I would achieve
this with using what I have access to: Stearic acid
and stearyl alcohol, both with HLB around 15? Do
I need to combine with a low HLB value emulsi༸er
like lecithin (4)? Thanks for your advice!

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jagat jyoti sahu

sir would you like to give me the protocol if u have

, how to proceed further for the determination of
hlb of some essential oils. if u have some
research article then plz send me some of them
so that i can proceed further with u r guidance.
regards jagat jyoti sahu
waiting for u r reply

 REPLY

Kelly

Jagat,
You would run accelerated stability testing with
varying levels of emulsi༸er while holding the oil
phase the same.

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

how we can determine it by experimentally

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

what is the protocol to determine the level of

emulsi༸er

 REPLY

Kelly

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Jagat,
As noted above, the appropriate level of emulsi༸er
will be determined experimentally.

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

ok but i want to know the percentage of

emulsi༸er to be used

 REPLY

Kelly

Hello Jagat,
You will need to experimentally determine the
required HLB for your oil. You create emulsions
with a combination of high and low HLB
emulsi༸er at varied ratios but the same total
concentration to test different HLBs. The required
HLB is then taken from the emulsion that remains
most stable.

 REPLY

Carol JK

Hi Kelly, yes, i understand what you meant.

Just wonder how to interpret/decide which

emulsion remains the most stable? I have
set the surfactant to be 3% (parenteral
formulation).

Then, all the resulting emulsion seems to be

the same. Separation of oil and water has
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taken place. The oil will immediately ༸oat

back to above after i shaken the emulsion
(although the oil did dispersed into the
water when i shaked the emulsion at 1st).
However, i do see droplets of oil. They do
not aggregate to form a bigger droplets.
Should i just proceed with other surfactant?
Because the same situation has taken place
for the 3rd kind of surfactant’s mixture.
Thanks for the advice. =)

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

i want to know how to calculate the hlb value of

cetronella oil.but ༸rst point is selection of
surfactant.but how we wil select surfactant. we
have oil percentage around 83 and water the rest.
so kindly tel me on what basis i wil select the
surfactant blend

 REPLY

Kelly

Hi Nancy,
There are no rules on how much emulsi༸er you
need , a good starting point is 2%. Placing various
levels on accelerated stability testing can help
you to select the optimum level for a particular oil
phase.

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nancy

Hi again Kelly, and thank you one more time

Just like you said i couldent ༸nd many.

Id like to aske you if there is any rules in how
much emulusifer i should use.

Thanks again!
Nancy

 REPLY

Kelly

Hi Nancy,
There aren’t many published values for W/O
required HLBs, this maybe due to the reason that
most cosmetic formulators favor O/W due to
cost, ease of stabilization, etc. You may be able to
༸nd some if you search for a speci༸c oil and it’s
required HLB in W/O systems. Hope this helps!

 REPLY

nancy

Thank you for your answer.I do not know what

Bancroft rule is but i will look it up.I wonder if you
know a site with the HLB value of o/w and w/o
emulsions.

 REPLY

Kelly

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Hi Nancy,
That’s a great question! The HLB for oils in O/W
vs. W/O is different. Low HLB emulsi༸ers are
used to create W/O formulations, and following
the Bancroft Rule the phase in while the
emulsi༸er is most soluble constitutes the
continuous phase. So is the emulsi༸er HLB is low,
it would be matched to an oil phase with a low
required HLB. For example in O/W mineral has a
required HLB around 10 and for W/O it is closer to
5.

 REPLY

nancy

hello i am making a project about HLB and i

would like to know the hlb value of oils is the
same for o/w and w/o emulsions..

 REPLY

Kelly

Hello Jagat,
You need a required HLB for oils. Required HLB is
not calculated but determined experimentally by
using a range of emulsi༸ers with differing HLB
values.

 REPLY

jagat jyoti sahu

please tel me how to calculate the hlb value of

volatile oil like geranium oil .

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 REPLY

Usman

Please guide us , We want to make silicone

emulsion shinning polish

 REPLY

Anup

for vegetable base oil phase which PEG free

emulsi༸er is best
percentage is about 35 to 40.

 REPLY

Kelly

Bill,
The HLB system is still a great tool for the
formulator and one the I use frequently. The
beauty is in the ease with which it can be used.
As a big enthusiast of cosmetic science, it’s an
honor to hear from you! Thanks so much, Kelly

 REPLY

Kelly

Glyceryl stearate SE contains a small amount of a

monovalent soap such as potassium or sodium
stearate.

 REPLY

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shivraj

What is the defferrence between glyceryl

monosterate
and glyceryl monostearate self emulsifyig

 REPLY

shivraj

I want to make water in oil formulation

how can we calculate the HLB for w/o

 REPLY

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Bill Grifퟪ�n

Kelly Dobos,

Dennis’ comments are a bit amusing in one sense

of the word because slide rules were still in use
then. Yes, we recognized some of the faults of the
system and these were outlined in my thesis for a
Master’s Degree in 1955 which, of course, was
not published.

It was my unimaginable pleasure to wander

through a current emulsion innovation lab at the
Croda plant a year or so ago and the advances on
all sides was amazing beyond belief. Of course,
the truly amazing thing is that the basic premise
is still being used and taught so long after its
development. Doubly impressive since my
retirement happened thirty-one years ago.

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Cheers, and may you have as much fun as has

been my good fortune in life – and without scads
of money.

Bill (HLB) Grif༸n

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Dennis

I know what I’m going to say here is provocative

and sacrilegious, but this whole system seems
somewhat antiquated and akin to the slide rule. I
think modern formulation requires more ༸exibility
and has available to it more effective tools. Using
DOE and polymeric emulsi༸ers we can create
better products faster and discover more
unexpected combinations than using these HLB
calculations, which don’t account for formula
aesthetics or product perception. Even using this
system it’s still an iterative process to achieve the
look and feel of the product you want.

 REPLY

Perry

Certainly, you make an excellent point.

There are more rigorous ways of making an
emulsion. But this kind of background
information is still useful in concept and the

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method (while antiquated) can still be used

effectively.

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