Materials for Manufacture of Handmade Soap

The basic raw materials for the manufacture of soap are I) Tallow is the principal fatty material in soap making. Other than tallow any vegetable oil, e.g.: cotton seed oil, linseed oil and palm oil may also be used. II) Caustic soda (NaOH) or Caustic Potash (KOH). Soap products these days are produced almost exclusively from tallow (beef) fat and coconut oil or their fatty acid derivatives. The utilization of palm oils, palm kernel oil, and their derivatives for soap manufacture is more usually practiced in many other parts of the world, particularly in Asia.

More recent trends in lauric oil pricing have driven the purchase and use of palm kernel oil and palm kernel olein as cost-effective alternatives to coconut oil in the West. The common substitution of coconut oil with palm kernel oil is done mainly for cost optimization of soap-manufacturing feedstock. Among other triglycerides, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, sunflower seed oil, fish oil, and olive oil have also been used as original feedstocks in many developing nations. The utilization of palm stearin, the by-product of palm oil fractionation, is increasing in use as a substitute for tallow outside of tallow-producing markets. Depressed pricing in 2000 and the recent fears of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow disease have driven this use trend in Europe.

3 Manufacture of Soap (Saponification)

Most of the soaps now days are made commercially in large units called "Kettles". Fat of animals or tallow is positioned at the bottom of the large tank and alkali (NaOH) is added.