Industrial Applications of Microemulsions: A Patent Review

Since the inception of the concept of microemulsions by Hoar and Schulman in 1940, they have always been a key area of interest, both in terms of basic research as well as in industry, which is primarily due to their unique characteristics like thermodynamic stability, optical clarity, and ease of preparation. The existence of microdomains of different polarity with in the same, single-phase solution enables both water-soluble and oil-soluble materials to be solubilized, at the same time. Thus, owing to these features, the uses and applications of microemulsions have been numerous. It is, thus, the objective of this review to summarize the industrial applications of these novel surfactant systems by discussing the patents governing various applications of these systems.