Studies on the phase behavior of the system APG/alcohol/alkane/H2O with fishlike diagrams

In this paper, the fishlike phase diagrams for the quaternary system of alkyl polyglucoside (APG: C8/10Gj or C12/14Gj)/alcohol/alkane/water mixtures have been studied. By using the simple mass balance equation and the HLB plane equation, some important parameters were calculated, such as the coordinates of the start point B and the end point E of the three-phase region, the mass fraction of alcohol in the hydrophile–lipophile balanced interfacial layer, AS, and the mass fractions of APG and alcohol in the interfacial layer (CS and CA). The effects of different alcohols and oils on the phase diagram and on the composition of the interfacial layer were also investigated. The shorter the carbon chain length of the oils and the longer the carbon chain length of the alcohols used in the systems, the higher the solubilization of the microemulsions.