ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL O/W NANOEMULSIONS WITH TWEEN 80

Abstract

In the perspective of using it for soils remediation, the physical stability of orange essential oil O/W nanoemulsions was studied as a function of the orange oil and nonionic surfactant Tween 80 concentrations, identifying the main mechanism of destabilization. The emulsions were prepared according to the Phase Inversion Temperature (PIT) method. Surfactant concentrations varied from 10 to 12 wt% and the orange oil ones, from 5 to 20 wt%. The particle size was determined by dynamic light scattering and nanoemulsion stability was assessed, measuring the variation of droplet size as a function of time. The results showed that the highest stability was achieved when using 20 wt% of orange essential oil and 10 wt% of Tween 80. It was also determined that Ostwald ripening was the main destabilization mechanism for the tested nanoemulsions. Using the most stable system for the remediation of contaminated soils with diesel, the average removal efficiency was 98%.