2a. Oils and Fats
Soap Manufacturing > 2. Raw Materials
OILS & FATS
In Handmade soap manufacturing (also called Cold Process) it is possible to use a variety of oils with carbon chains with different lengths, from C8 to C20.
In Industrial soap manufacturing the majority of Fatty Matters have chains from 12 to 18 carbons; longer and shorter carbon chains produce a soap not easy to work with industrial machines, due to the properties as hardness and titre.
A typical oil blend used by industrial soap manufacturers is "80:20" : an oil blend composed by 80% of Palm Oil plus 20% of Coconut Oil (or 20% of Palm Kernel Oil); this blend has a good ratio of carbon chains and a good IV (Iodine Value) of 41-43, to produce a soap that can be easily extruded and stamped with industrial soap machines.
In both cases (Cold Process and Industrials soap manufacturing) it is necessary to use a blend of fatty matters to mix the carbon chains and obtain a soap with the best performances.
For example chains shorter than 12 carbons give a skin irritant soap, while chains longer than 18 carbon produce a too soft soap. Lauric carbon chain (C12) produces foamy soap but with limited detergent property. Palmitic and Stearic carbon chain (C16 - C18) produces soap with very good detergent property but also too hard. Oleic carbon chain (C18.1) produce a soap with good foam, solubility and detergency, but too soft and with a poor stability.
Fatty Acids Composition of some Vegetable Oils / Animal Fats
| Caprylic | Capric | Lauric | Myristic | Palmitic | Stearic | Oleic | Linoleic | Linolenic | |
| C8 | C10 | C12 | C14 | C16 | C18 | C18:1 | C18:2 | C18:3 | |
| Avocado | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 20% | 2% | 66% | 12% | 0% |
| Babassu | 6% | 5,5% | 46% | 16,5% | 7% | 3% | 14,5% | 1,5% | 0% |
| Canola | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 2% | 61% | 21% | 9% |
| Castor | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1,5% | 0,5% | 5% | 4% | 0,5% |
| Cocoa Butter | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0,5% | 25% | 34,5% | 36,5% | 3% | 0,5% |
| Coconut | 8% | 7% | 47,5% | 18% | 9% | 3% | 6% | 1,5% | 0% |
| Corn | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 11% | 2% | 32% | 53% | 1,5% |
| Cottonseed | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 22% | 3% | 19% | 54% | 1% |
| Jojoba | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 14% | 0% | 0% |
| Lard | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1,5% | 29,5% | 13,5% | 44% | 9,5% | 0,5% |
| Neem | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 16% | 18% | 52% | 12% | 0% |
| Olive | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 9% | 2,5% | 79,5% | 7% | 1% |
| Palm | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 44% | 5% | 39% | 10% | 0,5% |
| Peanut | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 11% | 3% | 46% | 32% | 0% |
| PKO | 3,5% | 3,5% | 48% | 16% | 8,5% | 2,5% | 15,5% | 2,5% | 0% |
| Rapeseed | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 1,5% | 17% | 13% | 9% |
| Rice Bran | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 22% | 3% | 38% | 34% | 2% |
| Safflower | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 2,5% | 12% | 77,5% | 0,5% |
| Sesame Seed | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 5% | 40% | 43% | 0% |
| Shea Butter | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 5% | 40% | 48% | 6% | 0% |
| Soybean | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 11% | 4% | 23% | 54% | 8% |
| Sunflower | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 4,5% | 19% | 67,5% | 1% |
| Tallow | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 28% | 22% | 38% | 2% | 2% |
These values can change, depending from provenience, treatments and other parameters