The complexity of bilgewater, which is a wastewater containing oils, fuels, salts, lubricants, deck and bilge cleaners, is very rich. An important question here is: how are the oil-in-water emulsions formed in bilgewater, where the concentration of the surfactant is typically close to, but slightly lower than, the critical micellar concentration. This particular fact that micelles and, therefore, emulsions can form at a concentration below c.m.c is, in itself, not as striking as it might have appeared before the publication of a seminal work by Besseling and M. A. Cohen Stuart . Using self-consistent field theory these authors demonstrated that the above-mentioned structures can form via nucleation. It is only that their formation becomes unchallenged at c.m.c when the energy barriers disappear, which is a general knowledge in emulsion and polymer sciences. The daunting challenge with the bilgewater stems from its highly complex composition. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify the minimum set of parameters with which the complexity of the problem can be preserved in sufficient level with which to develop a rational understanding of the emulsification process in bilge water (see reference 26 and the references cited therein)