Stability of the oil-in-water type triacylglycerol emulsions

Lipid emulsions with saturated triacylglycerols (TAGs) with 4 to 10 carbons in each acyl chain were prepared to study how the oil component alters the stability of the lipid emulsions when phosphatidylcholines were used as emulsifiers. The average droplet size of the emulsions became smaller as the chain length of the TAG increased. For a given oil, emulsion with smaller droplets was formed with an emulsifier having higher HLB value. The influence of HLB values on the droplet size was biggest for the tributyrin (C4) emulsions. For the tricaprylin (C8) emulsions, droplet size was identical at given emulsifier concentrations regardless of HLB values. The HLB value and the concentration of the emulsifiers also affect the droplet size of the emulsions. The emulsions with smaller average droplet size were more stable than with bigger size for 20 days. The oil and water (o/w) interfacial tension is inversely proportional to the initial droplet size of the emulsion.