Composition and Solubilization of the Microemulsion Systems Containing Triton X-100: Effects of Aqueous Composition and Oil-Water-Ratios

Abstract The composition and solubilization of the optimum microemulsion systems containing Triton X-100/pentan-1-ol/aliphatic hydrocarbon/water were studied with the ∊-β fishlike phase diagram method. The solubilities of the alkanol ( S A ), the mass fractions of the alkanol in the interfacial layer ( A S ) and the optimum solubilization parameters ( SP∗ ) of the microemulsion systems with different aqueous phases (salt, acid, alkali) and with different α values were obtained and discussed. The SP ∗ values increase significantly with the cation radius of the chlorides (NaCl, KCl, CsCl), but decrease slightly with the anion radius of the sodium halides (NaCl, NaBr, NaI). However, SP∗ values decrease with the increased salinities and NaOH contents. The trend was reversed for the acid systems. When the oil-water ratio (α) increases, the S A and A S values significantly increase, while the SP∗ values increase slowly. As the length of the carbon chain of the alkane molecules increases, both the S A and A S values increase, while the SP ∗ values decrease significantly.