The influence of the raw materials used on the properties of soaps.
Fatty raw materials, animal fats are the most widely used in the soap industry, such as: bovine tallow, pork lard, horse fat, bone fat. These raw materials are mainly characterized by the presence of saturated hydrocarbon chains. Vegetable fats are also used in the production of soaps, such as oil: coconut, palm, from palm kernels, with olives, rapeseed, sunflower, sesame, soybean, cotton, linen. Fish oils and fish oils are also used in the production of soaps.
A Soaps made of fatty materials, long hydrocarbon chains are hard, it is more difficult to dissolve, they give not very abundant, fine-grained permanent foam, they show high detergency at higher temperatures and with higher alkalinity of the wash liquor.
Fat soaps, containing shorter strings, despite the very good foaming, show less detergency, they work better at lower temperatures and in less alkaline solutions.
Soaps with unsaturated hydrocarbon chains have a softer consistency, they get wet and rinse more easily from washed fabrics, they tend to go rancid with dark spots and an unpleasant odor.
Soda soaps are hard soaps, while the potassium soaps obtained from the same fatty raw materials are soft and greasy.
One of the most valuable raw materials is beef tallow. Soda soaps made of it are hard, brittle, resistant to rancidity, hardly soluble in cold water, they foam poorly, but they give a very durable foam. The washing capacity of these soaps is very high, especially at higher temperatures.
Soda soaps, which include pork lard, they are quite hard, tend to get wet, they give a moderately abundant foam with high durability. The washing capacity of these soaps is very high.
Horse fat and bone fat (obtained by bone extraction) they produce soaps with properties similar to pork lard soaps, but darker.
Coconut oil is obtained from the kernels of the coconut palm. The soaps obtained from this oil are very hard, brittle, dissolve well in water, do not tend to get wet, they are quite resistant to hard water and rancidity. They give a very abundant foam, but with large bubbles and unstable. These soaps are good for washing wool, even in the cold, cotton sparingly - even when hot. They are ineffective in washing. With frequent use, they irritate the epidermis.
Palm oil is obtained from the flesh of the fruit of the oil palm. It produces soaps with properties very similar to that of pork lard.
Palm kernel oil is obtained from the seeds of the palm oil. Soda soaps made from this oil have properties almost identical to coconut oil soaps.
Olive oil is extracted from the fruit of the olive tree. The soda soaps obtained from it are soft, but they harden considerably as they dry. They are prone to getting soaked, they give profusely, fine and durable foam. They are characterized by very high washing ability and easy rinsing.
Rapeseed oil makes the soda soap quite soft, sparingly soluble, prone to soaking, with very low foaming and dirt removal capacity. The potassium soaps in this oil are greasy, but they have better utility properties than sodium soaps.
Oils: sunflower, sesame, soybean and cottonseeds give soft soaps that are prone to rancidity, creating a fairly abundant foam and having good washing properties.
Linseed oil creates soaps with similar properties to sunflower oil soaps, but with an even greater rancidity and high transparency.
Fish oils and fish oils have a bad smell, which the soaps made from them receive. If these raw materials are hydrogenated, then the soaps made of them are characterized by poor foaming, good washing ability and varied, depending on the degree of hydrogenation, hardness.
The soap industry has a greater need for solid fats, than for liquid fats. Solid fats are a raw material that is more and more difficult to obtain, and their number does not meet the existing needs, hence most of the oils and fish oils are hardened. The curing process, that is, hydrogenation of fats, it consists in attaching hydrogen to unsaturated bonds in hydrocarbon chains. This changes the properties of the fat, and above all, it increases its melting point. The advantage of this process is the disappearance of the unpleasant smell of fish oils and fish oils. Artificially synthesized fatty acids are also used to a small extent as raw materials for the production of soaps.
One of the auxiliary raw materials, used in the soap making process, there is rosin, which is mainly a mixture of the so-called. resin acids. It is obtained from coniferous resin after distilling turpentine. As an acid raw material, it is saponified, creating rosin soaps (resinous). Rosin soaps are soft, well soluble in water, they lather well, but have a low detergency. These soaps are not used directly, while rosin is added to the fatty matrix of the hard soaps to improve their plasticity, the ability to foam and resistance to rancidity.
Tall oil is a valuable raw material used in the production of soaps. It is a by-product of the production of cellulose. It contains large amounts of fatty and resin acids. Tall oil soaps have a greasy consistency, good foaming and dirt-removing ability, especially fatty foods. These soaps are most often used as an additive to hard soaps.
Naphthenic acids are also used in the production of soaps. They are components of crude oil, have a chemical structure typical of organic acids. The saponification products of naphthenic acids produce soft soaps, easily soluble, creating abundant and unstable foam, with low washing capacity. Their bad smell makes, that the use of naphthenic acids in the production of soaps is low and is limited mainly to their use as an additive to the matrix in the production of soaps of lower grades.
