Every year, our Gum Gurus® answer hundreds of questions about emulsions. Whether the customer calls our technical support hotline, chats on the website, or visits us at a tradeshow, they are often asking about emulsions that push the current technology to its limit.
Oil-in-water emulsion basics
An emulsion is the system that results from the mixing of two immiscible or partially miscible liquids, called the phases of the emulsion, and one or more emulsifiers in the proper ratio that keeps one phase consistently dispersed in the other. Usually, one of the phases is aqueous—the so-called "water phase"—and the other is an oil in the wide sense.
Emulsions tend to be naturally unstable due to differences in the specific gravity of the two phases and variation in the size of the oil droplets. Formulators can increase emulsion stability by incorporating emulsifiers and weighting agents.
While gum acacia has been the gold standard in emulsifying flavors, colors, and beverages, there are certain types of formulations that are outside the capabilities of gum acacia or other commercially available stabilizers.
