title: Using emulsion inversion in industrial processes.
abstract: Emulsion inversion is a complex phenomenon, often perceived as an instability that is essentially uncontrollable, although many industrial processes make use of it. A research effort that started 2 decades ago has provided the two-dimensional and three-dimensional description, the categorization and the theoretical interpretation of the different kinds of emulsion inversion. A clear-cut phenomenological approach is currently available for understanding its characteristics, the factors that influence it and control it, the importance of fine-tuning the emulsification protocol, and the crucial occurrence of organized structures such as liquid crystals or multiple emulsions. The current know-how is used to analyze some industrial processes involving emulsion inversion, e.g. the attainment of a fine nutrient or cosmetic emulsion by temperature or formulation-induced transitional inversion, the preparation of a silicone oil emulsion by catastrophic phase inversion, the manufacture of a viscous polymer latex by combined inversion and the spontaneous but enigmatic inversion of emulsions used in metal working operations such as lathing or lamination.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Los Andes, Laboratorio of FIRP Ingeniería Química, Mérida 5101, Venezuela. salager@ula.ve
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Salager
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forgiarini
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Márquez
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pizzino
authors.forename: María P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rondón-González