Hlb system

The HLB SYSTEM a time-saving guide to emulsifier selection

edited and reprinted from CHEMMUNIQUE, publication of ICI Americas Inc.

ICI Americas Inc.
Wilmington, Delaware 19897

ANTICIPATING NEEDS

1

HLB scale of typical ATLAS emulsifiers

20

TWEEN 20

hydrophilic

TWEEN 40 TWEEN 80 TWEEN 60

TWEEN 21

TWEEN85 TWEEN 65

10

TWEEN 81 TWEEN 61

SPAN 20

CHAPTER
SPAN 40

1

Meaning of HLB Advantages and Limitations

lipophilic

SPAN 60 SPAN80

SPAN 65 SPAN 85

Trademarks of ICI Americas Inc., include:
ARLACEL, ARLASOLVE, ARLATONE, ATLAS, ATLOX, ATMOS, ATMUL, BRIJ, MYRJ, RENEX, SPAN, TWEEN, TWEEN-MOS

0
2

© 1976 ICI Americas Inc. (All Rights Reserved) Revised, March, 1980

WHEN you are faced with the problem of making an emulsion, you have your choice of hundreds upon hundreds of emulsifying agents - well over a hundred just from ICI alone. Out of this welter of products, you have the unenviable task of selecting one or two which will satisfactorily emulsify your chosen ingredients. You can choose from among hundreds of manufacturers and thousands of surface active agents, according to the 1975 edition of John W. McCutcheon's "Detergents and Emulsifiers" Your own definition of the words "satisfactorily emulsify," as used above, is of course the prime factor in your choice of one emulsifier instead of another.

-or non-irritating to the skin? How about your manufacturing equipment -or the equipment your customer might use in applying your emulsion product-will ease of preparation or application affect your choice of emulsifier? Such factors as this may immediately lead you to discard certain types or groups of emulsifiers from further consideration. In any case, they will certainly influence your choice of emulsifiers when you are weighing the relative merits of one emulsion or another in final trials.

HLB Numbers of Emulsifiers What Do They Mean? In the HLB System, each emulsifier is assigned a numerical