All water-borne coatings need surfactants in order to reduce the free energy of the various interfaces of the system, thus providing kinetic stability to the formulation. Surfactants are used as binder emulsifier and as pigment dispersant, they are needed to improve wetting on low energy substrates, to control foaming during application and processing, and to prevent film defects caused by surface tension gradients (Hellgren A.-C et al, 1999). The purpose of this experiment was to obtain a water-based emulsion, suitable as a coating for wood protection and, at the same time, reduce or eliminate the presence of co-solvent, which is usually always present also in water-based coatings.