Patent ID: 7481854

Claim:
A method to prepare a bicontinuous emulsion comprising a coexisting mixture of at least 70 vol % of a water-in-hydrocarbon macro emulsion and from 1 to 30 vol % of an hydrocarbon-in-water macro emulsion the method comprising: mixing at mixing energy in the range of 0.15×10 −5 to 0.15×10 −3 kW/liter of fluid, at least 40 wt % of hydrocarbon, from 30 to 60 wt % of water, and from 0.01 to 5 wt % of at least one surfactant selected from the group consisting of alkoxylated alkyl alcohols, alkoxylated alkyl mono esters, alkoxylated alkyl diesters and mixtures thereof, and represented by the respective formula R—(CH 2 ) n —O-(M-O) m —H; R—(CH2)n-CO—O-(M-O)m-H; and R—(CH2)n-CO—O-(M-O)m-CO—(CH2)n-R where R is a methyl group, n is an integer from about 5 to 17; m is an integer from about 2 to 50, M is CH 2 —CH 2 , CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 , CH 2 —CH—CH 3 , CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 , CH 2 —CH—(CH 3 )—CH 2 or mixtures thereof.