Why is it usually more difficult to emulsify vegetable oils than mineral oils?
Vegetable oils are a complex mixture of esters of fatty acids containing large molecules, while mineral oils don’t contain ester linkages and molecular weights are relatively smaller. Concerning chemical structures, the emulsifiers must have structures which are similar to oils, e.g. ethoxylated vegetable oils can be used with success for triglycerides (according to Busagh-Ostwald continuity theory).
