• Formulating

  Fractionated Coconut Oil Emulsion

  Posted by ledude on June 16, 2016 at 8:30 pm

  Hello all. I’ve been trying to emulsify fractionated coconut oil into a water-soluble blend, but coming up a bit short. Using the HLB system I found that the oil has an HLB of 5. I then paired up two surfactants to match the HLB and blended together. The emulsion is stable for only a few hours and then separates. Any suggestions on what can be used? I am trying to make this into a sprayable formula so can’t be too thick. 

  Fractionated Coconut Oil - 25%
  Span 80 HLB 4.30 - 3.68%
  Alcohol Ethoxylate HLB 13.10 - 0.32%
  Water - Balance

  I have tried bumping up the emulsifiers to 5% but still no luck. Thanks for any suggestions!

  Bill_Toge replied 8 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 3 Replies

  • coconut oil
  • emulsifier
  • emulsion
  • fractionated-coconut
  • hlb
• 3 Replies

• 

  Bobzchemist

  Member

  June 16, 2016 at 8:35 pm

  Pemulen TR-2
  Good for sprayable emulsions:

  https://www.lubrizol.com/PersonalCare/Products/Pemulen/PemulenTR-2.html 

• 

  MakingSkincare

  Member

  July 3, 2016 at 8:14 am

  You could also try viscoptima LV and simulgel FL.  Don’t forget to add a broad spectrum preservative.

• 

  Bill_Toge

  Professional Chemist / Formulator

  July 3, 2016 at 2:31 pm

  the required HLB would be 5 if you were making a water-in-oil emulsion; what you want is an oil-in-water emulsion, which would have a higher HLB (typically on the order of 10-15)

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