Evaluating raw Albizia amara plant powder as a natural bio-surfactant

<p dir="ltr">This study investigates the potential of Albizia amara (AA) powder suspension as a natural surfactant, with a focus on its oil-in-water emulsification capabilities. The surface tension reduction, emulsifying capacity (EC), and emulsion stability (ES) of AA suspensions were evaluated across a range of mass concentrations (0.1–1%). AA leaves were dried, pulverized, and blended with water to prepare the suspensions, with blending identified as the most effective method. Surface tension measurements revealed a decrease from 57.13 ± 2.17 mN/m to 48.9 ± 0.06 mN/m as AA concentration increased to 0.8%, with a plateau observed at 0.7–0.8%, indicating the attainment of the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Both blending and high shear mixing successfully produced oil-in-water emulsions. At 1% AA, blending resulted in smaller droplet sizes (1–10 μm), while high shear mixing produced larger but more uniformly distributed droplets (d₅₀ = 31.23 ± 0.95 μm). Emulsion analysis confirmed AA’s ability to reduce droplet size and stabilize emulsions, achieving an EC of 95.19 ± 3.39% and an ES of 89.81 ± 0.02% at 0.8% AA. Microscopy further validated the formation of small, stable droplets at higher concentrations. Future re-search should focus on extracting and characterizing the active surface-active compounds and investigating synergistic effects with other plant-based co-surfactants to enhance emulsification performance.</p>