Scribd
Upload
1K views2 pages

HLB Value and Calculation

The HLB (hydrophilic lipophilic balance) value of a surfactant can be calculated using either Griffin's method or Davies' method. Griffin's method uses a formula that calculates HLB based on the molecular mass of the hydrophilic and whole molecular portions. Davies' method accounts for the number and strength of hydrophilic and lipophilic groups. The HLB value can predict the surfactant's properties such as emulsifying abilities. The HLB "requirement" of an oil is determined by blending emulsifiers and finding the optimum ratio for emulsification, which indicates the required HLB value.

Uploaded by

إسراء رمضان
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
1K views2 pages

HLB Value and Calculation

The HLB (hydrophilic lipophilic balance) value of a surfactant can be calculated using either Griffin's method or Davies' method. Griffin's method uses a formula that calculates HLB based on the molecular mass of the hydrophilic and whole molecular portions. Davies' method accounts for the number and strength of hydrophilic and lipophilic groups. The HLB value can predict the surfactant's properties such as emulsifying abilities. The HLB "requirement" of an oil is determined by blending emulsifiers and finding the optimum ratio for emulsification, which indicates the required HLB value.

Uploaded by

إسراء رمضان
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • HLB Value and Calculation: Explains how to determine the HLB value for different regions of a molecule using Griffin's method and Davies' modification.
  • Determination of HLB “Requirement”: Describes the concept of HLB requirement for surfactants and how it impacts emulsion stability.

HLB Value and Calculation

The HLB is determined by calculating values for the different regions of


the molecule, as described by Griffin. Other methods have been
suggested, notably by Davies

Griffin’s method:
Griffin’s equation to calculate HLB for nonionic surfactants is

HLB = 20MWh/MW
where MWh is the molecular mass of the hydrophilic portion of the molecule and MW is the molecular
mass of the whole molecule, giving a result on an arbitrary scale of 0 to 20. An HLB value of 0
corresponds to a completely hydrophobic molecule and a value of 20 corresponds to a molecule made
up completely of hydrophilic components. The HLB value can be used to predict

the following surfactant properties:

1. A value from 0 to 3 indicates an antifoaming agent.

2. A value from 4 to 6 indicates a W/O emulsifier.

3. A value from 7 to 9 indicates a wetting agent.

4. A value from 8 to 18 indicates an O/W emulsifier.

5. A value from 13 to 15 is typical of detergents.

6. A value of 10 to 18 indicates a solubilizer or hydrotropic.

Davies' method:
In 1957, Davies suggested a method for calculating a value based on the chemical groups of the
molecule. The advantage of this method is that it takes into account the effect of strongly and
less strongly hydrophilic groups.
The equation is

HLB = 7 + mHh-nHl
where m is the number of hydrophilic groups in the molecule, Hh is the value of the hydrophilic
groups, n is the number of lipophilic groups in the molecule, and Hl is the value of the lipophilic
groups. For ethoxylated amphiphiles, the HLB is one-fifth the weight of the ethylene oxide
portion of the molecule

Determination of HLB “Requirement”

HLB “requirement” is the amount of surfactant required to make an oil to remain in solution. Variation
of the proportion of the blended emulsifiers has been preferred to obtain best results. When two
emulsifiers of known HLB are thus blended for use with a given oil there is an optimum ratio that gives
best emulsification and the HLB at this ratio is said to be the required HLB for the oil (to give that type of
emulsion, whether O/W, W/O solubilization, etc.). This is expressed by the equation

You might also like