Using emulsion inversion in industrial processes

Emulsion inversion is a complex phenomenon, often perceived as an instability that is essentially uncontrollable, although many industrial processes make use of it. A research effort that started 2 decades ago has provided the two-dimensional and three-dimensional description, the categorization and the theoretical interpretation of the different kinds of emulsion inversion. A clear-cut phenomenological approach is currently available for understanding its characteristics, the factors that influence it and control it, the importance of fine-tuning the emulsification protocol, and the crucial occurrence of organized structures such as liquid crystals or multiple emulsions. The current know-how is used to analyze some industrial processes involving emulsion inversion, e.g. the attainment of a fine nutrient or cosmetic emulsion by temperature or formulation-induced transitional inversion, the preparation of a silicone oil emulsion by catastrophic phase inversion, the manufacture of a viscous polymer latex by combined inversion and the spontaneous but enigmatic inversion of emulsions used in metal working operations such as lathing or lamination. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.