Current future fat-based raw materials for soap manufacture

The traditional use of coconut and palm oils for soap manufacture can be expected to continue indefinately. Certain oils of the oleic/ linoleic acid group are too unsaturated to yield soaps of the desired degree of hardness and stability. They may be hydrogenated to form suitable hard soap fats; a quantity of these oils is used regularly in the preparation of soft soaps and in blends with harder fats. The chief animal fat used in soapmaking is tallow. Other fats and oils less frequently used include babassu, palm kernel and olive oil. The ratio of tallow/coconut oil used for the manufacture of toilet soaps ranges from 85:15 to 75:25. A correlation of soap properties with the ratio of 95:5 to 75:25 of tallow and coconut oil demonstrates that properties such as cracking, swelling and hardness are not as sensitive to the changes in the blend ratios as are erosion characteristics, slushing and lather. Present production of Russian and Eastern European soap is from huge quantities of straight-chain, odd- and even-numbered, carbon saturated synthetic fatty acids (SFA). Future fat-based raw materials might include certain fractionated fatty acids, methyl ester intermediates, acidulated sunflower and/or safflower soapstocks. Jojoba wax might be a surprising new raw material.