SOAP FORMULATION

INTRODUCTION :

Soap is a salt of a fatty acid. Household uses for soaps include washing, bathing and other types of housekeeping, where soaps act as surfactants, emulsifying oils to enable them to be carried away by water. An excavation of ancient Babylon revealed evidence that Babylonians were making soaps around 2800 B.C. they made soap from fats boiled with ashes. Soap was used in cleaning wool and cotton used in textile manufacture. The French chemist Eugene-Michel Chevreul put the soap-forming process ( saponification) into concrete chemical term in 1823. Saponification is a process of hydrolysis of fats and oils to produce glycerol and fatty acid salts from the reaction of triglyceride with a strong base such as sodium or potassium hydroxide, but in this experiment , sodium hydroxide is used.The production of soap also can be enhanced by adding fragrance and colourant. Soap was made with industrial processes by the end of 19th century.

METHODOLOGY :

• Chemicals:
  Coconut oil, olive oil, vegetable shortening, petroleum jelly, sodium hydroxide, distilled water, honey, oats, cinnamon powder, colourants, fragrance
  
  

  Materials	Quantity
  Coconut oil	19.6 mL
  Olive oil	19.6 mL
  Vegetable shortening	29.6 g
  Sodium hydroxide	9.9 mL
  Distilled water	20.9 mL
  Honey	0.17 mL
  Oats/Cinnamon powder	q.s
  Colourants	q.s
  Frangrance	q.s

• Apparatus:
  50mL Measuring cylinder, 20mL beaker, 20mL conical measure, evaporating dish, glass rod, water bath, thermometer, mould

• Procedures :

1.  The mould is dried and prepared by greasing it with petroleum jelly.
2. Vegetable shortening is weighed out and heated in evaporating dish together with coconut oil and olive oil at temperature 40ºc-50ºc. The oil mixture is stirred well.
   
3. At the moment, solution of sodium hydroxide is prepared by adding the sodium hydroxide into distilled water and mixed well. The solution is cooled down.
   
4. The oil mixture is removed from heat and the sodium hydroxide solution is added into the oil mixture. The mixture is mixed in circular motion for 15 mins and mixed more until it is thickened.
   
5. The mixing is stopped when the mixture has formed 'trace'.
   
6. Then, honey, oats, fragrance and colourants are added into the mixture and mixed well.
   
7. The soap mixture is poured into the mould and covered with cloth. It is kept under moderately warm place for 24-48hrs.
   
8. The procedure is repeated by replacing colourants with cinnamon powder.

RESULT :

	SOAP A	SOAP B
MELTING POINT (0C)	75 0C	76 0C
DURATION TO COMPLETELY MELT	24 minutes 47 seconds	12 minutes 5 seconds
OBSERVATION	Lather and soapy with less fragrant	Lather and soapy with less fragrant
PH	Alkaline-turn the red litmus paper into blue	Alkaline-turn the red litmus paper into blue

DISCUSSION :

      Soaps are sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. When triglycerides in fat or oil react with aqueous NaOH or KOH, they are converted into soap and glycerol. This is called alkaline hydrolysis esters but since this reaction leads to the formation of soap, it is called the saponification process. In a simple term, saponification is a chemical reaction between an acid and a base to form a salt. When the soap is made using the cold process soap making method, the oil or fat which is acid is mixed with sodium hydroxide, also known as lye which is the base, to form soap which is a salt.

For the saponification process, the base that is commonly used is the lye. This is because lye contain one sodium ion and one hydroxide ion. Other bases like potassium hydroxide can be used as well but potassium hydroxide is more prominently used for liquid soap making.

      There are many different types of acids that will react with the base. For examples, the acid could be olive oil and coconut oil. Each acid has a unique combination of triglycerides. Triglycerides are compounds made of three fatty acids, attached to a single molecule of glycerol. The amount of base needed to react with the acid will vary depending on the chemical makeup of the acid.

       As the acid and base are mixed and stirred carefully, the reaction will start to react. The triglycerides within the acid releases the single glycerol molecule which then allowing the fatty acids to combine with the hydroxide ions within the base, forming soap. The single glycerol molecule that is released from the glycerides will turns into skin nourishing glycerin.

      There will be two reaction occur in the saponification process. The first reaction is the glycerol turning into beneficial glycerin and the second reaction is the acid and the base combining to form a salt which is the soap. The soap molecule can be divided into two parts which are polar head and a non-polar hydrocarbon tail. The polar head is hydrophilic (water loving) in nature, while the non-polar tail is the hydrophobic (water hating) in nature. Generally, the saponification reaction is exothermic in nature because heat is liberated during the process.

      Based on the formulations of the soap that is been used, it is noticed that each ingredients plays a specific role in the formulations. Firstly, the coconut oil is used to produce lather of the soap. The olive oil is used to have moisturizing properties, smoothing action in soap. Next, vegetable shortening is used for hardening and conditioning. The function of sodium hydroxide is to hydrolyze fats. It is the essential ingredients in the soap making process. Sodium hydroxide is also known as lye.

Besides that, distilled water is also used in the soap making process to dissolve the sodium hydroxide for the preparation part of saponification. Adding honey to cold process soap means extra sugar is been added. Sugar causes cold process soap to heat up. When soap heats up after poured into the mold, the soap goes through gel phase. Moreover, the functions of oats and cinnamon powder is to moisturize and also for exfoliation. The colorants is used for coloring. Hence, the soap will look much more attractive. Lastly, fragrant/essential oils is also added to the soap to give pleasant smells to the soap.

       There are two soap that are been produced based on the experiment conducted. The first soap which is labelled as soap A, contains colorants but no cinnamon powder is been added to it. The second soap, which is soap B, contains cinnamon powder but no colorants is been added to it. Both soap is observed with their lather formation that the soap can produced. Based on the results, both soap A and soap B can formed lather and soapy but with less fragrant that can be smelled.

There are three evaluation test that is been conducted to evaluate the final products which are melting point, duration to completely melt and the pH value. The melting point for soap A is 75 °C and it took about 24 minutes 47 seconds to completely melt. For soap B, the melting point is 76°C and it took about 12 minutes 5 seconds to completely melt. Based on the result obtained, it can be said that both of the soap is quite stable and it can be used in room temperature and also in a hot weather country that is not exceed the melting point temperature. The higher the melting point of the soap, the more the stability the soap will be. Soap A and soap B is tested with the red litmus paper to check the pH value of the soap. The result obtained from the test are both of the soap turns the red litmus paper into blue. This proves that the soap is alkaline. Therefore, it can be said that pH value for both of the soap is between 7-14.

         There are some errors that might occur while conducting the experiments. Firstly, the accuracy of measurement for the ingredient. This is because some ingredients are too viscous such as honey. Parallax errors also might occur when reading the measurement on the apparatus. To avoid this error, the eye of the observer should be parallel with the meniscus when reading the measurement. Next, the apparatus that had been used may not be clean very well. Thus, contamination might occur.

There are some precautions that should be taken when handling this experiments. Firstly, after adding sodium hydroxide to water and mixed well, the mixture should be cool down before proceed with the next step. This is because it is an exothermic reaction. Heat will be liberated during the process. Next, the apparatus should be ensure that they are clean and dry before it is been used in order to avoid any contamination. 

CONCLUSION :

The process of formation of soap is saponification. Usually, a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or protassium hydroxide to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called soap. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard soap is produced. But, by using potassium hydroxide results in a soft soap. The chemical reaction between any fat and sodium hydroxide is a saponification process. From this experiment, the test conducted using a red litmus paper shows that the soaps are alkaline as red litmus paper turns blue. Plus, due to its stability, the melting point of both soap produced are high as they take longer time to completely melt.

REFERENCES :

1. (2017). Anne M. H., Saponification Definition and Reaction. Retrieved from

 https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-saponification-605959

2. (2013). Saponification-The process of Making Soap. Retrieved 15 May 2017, from amrita.olabs.edu.in/?sub=73&brch=3&sim=119&cnt=1 

3. The History of Soap-Soap Inventors and Origins. Copyright Soap History. Retrieved from http://www.soaphistory.net/soap-history/