Search

This study reports on the use of soluble biobased organic substances (SBO) with emulsifying properties in the production of oil-in-water emulsions for industrial consumption. One of the potentially interesting applications is in formulation of metalworking fluids, which typically consist of oil-in-water emulsions used in metal manufacturing industries. Soluble biobased substances were collected from urban food and gardening wastes in a waste management plant located in a densely populated area in North Italy. The biowastes were fermented under anaerobic and/or aerobic conditions and then treated chemically to yield four different SBO samples, which were characterized for chemical composition, solution behavior by water surface tension measurements, and ability to form stable 10% oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the hydrophilic–lipophilic balance of emulsions with surfactant concentrations in the 2–8% (w/w) range. Stable emulsions were obtained with at least 3% (w/w) s...