SOAP FORMULATION
INTRODUCTION :
METHODOLOGY :
RESULT :
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, fragranceMaterialsQuantityCoconut oil19.6 mLOlive oil19.6 mLVegetable shortening29.6 gSodium hydroxide9.9 mLDistilled water20.9 mLHoney0.17 mLOats/Cinnamon powderq.sColourantsq.sFrangranceq.s
- Apparatus:50mL Measuring cylinder, 20mL beaker, 20mL conical measure, evaporating dish, glass rod, water bath, thermometer, mould
- Procedures :
- The mould is dried and prepared by greasing it with petroleum jelly.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The
mixing is stopped when the mixture has formed 'trace'.
- Then,
honey, oats, fragrance and colourants are added into the mixture and
mixed well.
- The
soap mixture is poured into the mould and covered with cloth. It is
kept under moderately warm place for 24-48hrs.
- 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/
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