ABSTRACT
Many products involve emulsification in the exploitation or manufacturing process. The applications range from bitumen emulsions and drilling fluids to food products, cleaning and personal care (including cosmetics), carrier media for pharmaceuticals, and many more. Industrial interest in emulsions and emulsification and in their physical chemistry is evident. Industrial research is, however, characterizied by a pragmatic approach and a strong focus on development and technology. The incentive of product or process devel opment renders the industrial approach principally driven by performance. Academic basic science principally opens up new horizons. It may, therefore, focus on mechanistic details, theories, and tests. This does not necessarily mean that the two approaches cannot be mutually reinforcing. Nevertheless, starting points remain different, and one must be aware of some practical differences. For example, the industrial definition of emulsion stability or stability in a more general sense differs from the one academics tend to practice. Industrial product stability focuses on (shelf) lifetime, or product tenability. “Industrial” stability expresses the product status quo rather than some point in a phase diagram.
