Hlb value

Griffin 1954

HLB is the acronym for "hydrophilic-lipophilic-balance". The HLB value describes the hydrophilic and lipophilic portion of surfactants and thus the most important selection criterion for emulsifiers.

The HLB value sets the molar mass of the hydrophilic portion of an emulsifier (MH) in relation to the molar mass of the entire molecule (M): HLB = 20 (MH/M). The factor 20 is an arbitrarily chosen scaling factor. This results in a scale from 0 to 20:

• 0 = no hydrophilic portion, MH = 0 (lipophilic compound)
• 20 = only hydrophilic groups, MH = M (hydrophilic compound)
• A value between 3 and 8 is assigned to W/O emulsifiers.
• A value between 8-18 is assigned to O/W emulsifiers.
• Detergents have HLB values between 13-15.
• Phospholipids have an HLB value of 5
• Lysophosphatides have an HLB value between 12-16.

1. Griffin WC (1949) Classification of surface active agents by HLB. J Soc Cosmet Chem 1