Although solubilizing and emulsifying technologies using surfactants are generally used in various industries by recognizing their high practicalities, not only to determine the right types and dosage of surfactants, but to select optimizing preparation methods should be a prerequisite for a desirable target formulation. This review explains emulsifying and solubilizing properties of non-ionic surfactant “Polyglycerol Fatty Acid Esters (PGFE)”, which has been widely used in countless food and cosmetic applications.

With higher flexibility in designing molecular structures, diverse molecules of PGFE can be designed and built while covering a wide range of HLB. In addition, PGFE is less affected by temperature or coexisting ingredients such as salt and polyols on the strength of its powerful hydration force. It is also well-known for having an intriguing property, which can effectively form self-assembly owing to its low CMC (Critical Micelle Concentration) level both in water and oil. In this review, we introduce application guidance with the latest research trends while focusing on the structural characteristic and specific properties of PGFE.

In Japan, the textile market tends to shrink, but globally it continues to grow centered on chemical fibers. Based on the market trend, it will continue to grow. At the production of the chemical fiber, it is essential to provide surfactants for textiles in order to give processability and functionality. Therefore the surfactants will be widely use. The properties imparted to the fibers by the surfactants for the textile are various depending on the processing method and the end use. In this paper, among chemical fibers, textile surfactants for staple fiber non-woven are introduced with various examples of processability and functionality.

Spray drying is the most common technique to produce powdered food. Recently, the use of powdered oils is grown in the food marketplace. Powdered oils are prepared from sub-micron oil-in-water emulsions to maintain high emulsification stability. A powder can be dissolved in water easily, and keep an emulsification stability for a long time. Encapsulated oil droplets of powdered oils are dispersed in the microstructure of food (bread, cakes, cookies, soup, etc) by mixing, and they interact with gluten and starch. Therefore, application of powdered oils to food is to give it soft and moistened texture.

Lecithin, a mixture mainly composed of phospholipids, is a complex lipid which has long been used in the food processing industry, medicine, cosmetics, and so on. Industrial production of rare phospholipids and glycolipids having expected novel functions and well-known representative phospholipids has been recently established by various methods such as separation, concentration, and modification. It is being put to practical use as functional material. The expected functionality of phospholipid and glycolipid and their preparation methods are described in this article.