1. Presentation of emulsions

Emulsions are ubiquitous in the world of formulation.

They can be found in a number of important industrial fields, such as energy (Aquazole ^® , a water/diesel emulsion that is less polluting than traditional diesel fuels; Orimulsion ^® , a crude oil/water emulsion that enables highly viscous oil to be transported by pipeline and used as a liquid fuel), food (salad dressing, butter, mayonnaise, ice cream), cosmetics (moisturizing cream, body lotion, sun cream), agrochemicals (self-emulsifying concentrate), polymers (emulsion polymerization, latex) or aqueous paints (water-dilutable).

In all these applications, it is essential to control the nature of the emulsion's continuous phase, as this is what governs, to a large extent, the application performance...