Evaluating the Creaming of an Emulsion via Mass Spectrometry and UV-Vis Spectrophotometry

The creaming behavior of a turbid oil-in-water emulsion was observed via the processes of multiphoton ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MPI-TOFMS) and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-vis), and the results were compared. The transmittance measurement by UV-vis showed that the turbidity of the toluene emulsion was decreased with time. However, non-negligible errors are common in the measurement of a sample with high turbidity. The online measurement by MPI-TOFMS detected many spikes in the time profile, which revealed the existence of toluene droplets in the emulsion. A smooth time profile suggested that the signal intensity had initially increased, and then decreased with time; the initial concentration of toluene was 3 g/L, which had decreased by half after 60 min. The signal behavior obtained using MPI-TOFMS differed only slightly from that obtained using UV-vis. Since a change in turbidity is not the same as a change in the local concentration of an oil component, MPI-TOFMS is useful for the analysis of a turbid emulsion and offers additional information concerning the creaming phenomenon of an emulsion.