Water soluble compound made by a reaction (calledsaponification)

between caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) or caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) with
animal and/or vegetable fats (oils). Soap has surface active properties (seesurfactant)
to wet a greasy (oily) soiled surface and suspendthe oil and dirt in the water for rinsing
off. Synthetic soaps (called detergents) are made from petroleum-basedproducts, and
some heavy soaps (made from lead, zinc, or other heavy-metal compounds) are water-
insoluble and are used mainly in lubricating greases.

Usually, a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium orpotassium hydroxide to
produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called 'soap'. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard
soap is produced. Using potassium hydroxide results in a soft soap.

Amber, vanilla, jasmine, strawberry

1
What's the Difference Between Sodium Hydroxide…


2
Where to Buy Lye in Europe, Canada & Austra…


3
Where to Buy Lye


4
What Sort of Soap Can I Use While Camping?


5
Use a Liquid Lye Solution in Soap Making
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 What's the Difference
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Carefully Add the Lye to the Water. David Fisher

By David Fisher
 Candle & Soap Making Expert
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Updated March 12, 2016.

What's the Difference Between Sodium Hydroxide (or NaOH) & Potassium
Hydroxide (or KOH)?

I once had a soap maker email me saying, "I know I've measured everything right, but my soap
just won't harden! I've let it sit for two days now and it's still this messy, liquidy goo! What went
wrong?"
Well, there are several errors that could have caused this such as making a big mis-measure in
your lye or oils (think of a soap with a 50% superfat) But what had gone wrong in this instance
is that she had used potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide in her recipe.
So what's the difference? They're both white, flaky powders that make soap. Quite simply:

 sodium hydroxide (often called just "lye") makes bar soap - solid, opaque
bar soap
 potassium hydroxide (often called "potash") makes liquid soap - flowing,
clear or translucent liquid soap
Soap is technically a "salt" that is made by combining an alkali with fats or fatty acids. The alkali
is the lye that we use.

CONTINUE READING BELOW OUR VIDEO

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The fats (or fatty acids) are the oils. Sodium hydroxide results in a salt (soap) that is crystallized
enough to be opaque. The soap made with potassium hydroxide doesn't crystallize in the same
fashion, and hence, is not as solid or opaque. (Although there are ingredients and situations that
make liquid soap cloudy.) They both lather and clean and work like soap works. They just have a
different consistency when completed.
Old fashioned or "pioneer" soaps were made from lye that was made with wood ashes - and were
primarily a soft, gooey, soft soap. Wood ashes produce mostly potassium hydroxide. I've seen
old instructions/recipes that said "add in a handful of salt until the soap thickens" - that appears
to be just adding some sodium to the mix to make it firmer.
Luckily, today we can get both sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide in pure versions with
consistent strength from chemical vendors. Unlike Grandma's unpredictable "lye soap" - we can
know that our soaps, whether liquid or bar, made with sodium or potassium hydroxide, are going
to be gentle on our skin.
One additional noticeable difference that often surprises soap makers making liquid soap for the
first time is that potassium hydroxide heats up significantly when you add it to the water to make
the lye solution. Sodium hydroxide lye solutions get hot - most definitely - but a potassium
hydroxide lye solution gets so hot that it almost boils. The flakes kind of bubble and rattle in the
bottom of the pitcher.
 As with any lye solution, be sure that you are wearing proper safety gear - gloves and goggles
and long sleeves - and that there are no children, pets, spouses, etc. to distract you when you're
making your lye solution.
Related
 Make liquid soap - in your oven with this easy liquid soap recipe
 How to Make Your Own Liquid Soap at Home
 Make soap in Europe, Canada and Australia
 Why is there too much lye in liquid soap recipes?

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 Hard Water Problems

Laundering

Clothes washed in hard water often look dingy and feel harsh and scratchy. The hardness minerals combine
with some soils to form insoluble salts, making them difficult to remove. Soil on clothes can introduce even
more hardness minerals into the wash water. Continuous laundering in hard water can damage fibers and
shorten the life of clothes by up to 40 percent.

Bathing

Bathing with soap in hard water leaves a film of sticky soap curd on the skin. The film may prevent removal
of soil and bacteria. Soap curd interferes with the return of skin to its normal, slightly acid condition, and
may lead to irritation. Soap curd on hair may make it dull, lifeless and difficult to manage.

Dishwashers

When washing dishes, especially in a dishwasher, hard water may cause spotting and filming on your
crockery. The minerals from hard water are released faster when it comes into contact with heat, causing an
increase in the amount of spotting and filming that occurs. This problem is not a health risk, but it can be a
nuisance to clean and reduce the quality of your crockery.
 Problems in Water Boiler Systems and Pipework

Hard water also contributes to inefficient and costly operation of water-using appliances. Heated hard water
forms a scale of calcium and magnesium minerals (limescale deposits) that can contribute to the inefficient
operation or failure of water-using appliances. Pipes can become clogged with scale that reduces water flow
and ultimately requires pipe replacement. Limescale has been known to increase energy bills by up to 25%

Limescale in Solar Heating Systems

Solar heating, often used for heating swimming pools is prone to limescale buildup, which can reduce the
efficiency of the electronic pump and therefore the overall systems performance will deteriorate. A low cost
solution to this problem is to install a magnetic water conditioner before the pump, this will prevent
limescale buildup and, over time, it will remove existing limescale.

Hard Water Benefits

Hard water is not a health hazard. In fact, the National Research Council (National Academy of Sciences)
states that hard drinking water generally contributes a small amount toward total calcium and magnesium
human dietary needs. They further state that in some instances, where dissolved calcium and magnesium
are very high, water could be a major contributor of calcium and magnesium to the diet.

The ideal solution would be to leave the calcium in the water, but alter its state so that it couldn’t form
limescale. This is exactly what magnetic water conditioners do.

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o Water Pollution Guide

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Copyright © 2003 - 2016, all rights reserved. Privacy Policy
Emulsion Definition: An emulsion is a colloid of two or more immiscibleliquids where
one liquid contains a dispersion of the other liquids.
Examples: Oil and water mixtures are emulsions when shaken together. The oil will
form drops and disperse throughout the water.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Potassium Hydroxide VS. Sodium Hydroxide in soap making

If you're fairly new to soap making, like me, you might be wondering if you could interchange potassium
and sodium hydroxide. The answer is depends. It depends on what you are looking for in your soap and if
you are prepared to deal with outcome.

First you need to know a little about soap making history to help you in your decision making processes.
Back when soap making started there were probably as many opinions about how it should be made as
there were families. One of the most common was to make soap was with ashes from a fire that were
boiled. Boiling the ashes of a fire, particularly hardwood, would produce pot ash or potassium hydroxide.
The potassium hydroxide was the active ingredient that would help saponify the oils and fats (saponify, or
saponification, is a more recent term meaning to turn into soap.). A lot of these older recipes used
different techniques to tell when you had reached saponification, but there was no numerical standard.

More recently scientist have continued to do what they do best, experiment, and have produced
saponification tables for different oils and fats. These tables show how much lye, or sodium hydroxide, is
needed to saponify the specified oils and fats. Some tables are in grams and some in ounces. To make
this process even easier, so you don't have to do it by hand, some websites provide a "lye calculator" that
adds up the amount of lye you need to saponify the oils you choose. It is truly much more simple today
than it was in the days of the pioneers. Still, there are some questions that aren't easily answered.

If you are like me and have some background in chemistry, but not in soap, you might think that this
process is similar to polymerization and that the only part that really matters is the hydroxide. The truth is
that saponification is dependent on the hydroxide but also acts as a salt. Therefore, you will get different
results depending on which hydroxide you use. Typically you will get a harder soap from sodium
hydroxide than from potassium hydroxide. Older recipes that used pot ash would typically have you add
salt, sodium chloride, to harden the soap. One other difference is that you tend to get more lather from
the potassium hydroxide than the sodium hydroxide.

I want to make a shaving soap and do it all myself. I have read several different articles and a lot of them
seem to mention that there is potassium in shaving soap because it helps give a better lather, but none of
them seem to mention the softer soap. I tried using just olive oil and used 100% sodium hydroxide, 50%
sodium hydroxide 50% potassium hydroxide, and 100% potassium hydroxide in three different batches.
The first batch was a little soft but hardened up after some time curing, while the second batch was like
mush and the third just stayed a liquid. It turns out that olive oil produces a soft low lather soap anyway,
which made it less than ideal for my test, so it was hard to get it to lather. However, even with the low
amount of lather I noticed that the 50/50 mixture produced a better lather than the 100% sodium
hydroxide.

So if you want a bar of soap you should probably stick to sodium hydroxide, but if you want a liquid soap
us potassium hydroxide. However, if you are looking for lathering characteristics look first at the
properties of the oils, because that will make your biggest difference, and then pick your hydroxide. I
personally will be experimenting more with a blend of the two and trying different oils to produce the best
lather for shaving. I hoped this helps.

Posted by Trevor

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2 comments:
1.

maharawjSeptember 24, 2013 at 5:22 PM

Did the 100% KOH lather well? Or did it give the best lather?
Thanks for sharing this info Appreciate it.

ReplyDelete

Replies

1.

TrevorSeptember 26, 2013 at 9:55 PM

The 100% KOH lathered better. I used just olive oil, which doesn't lather very well on its
own. I would suggest using an oil that lathers better, maybe palm oil.
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HO ME / Home Improvement

Hard water: Facts and solutions

Jul 14, 2009

by Nina Spitzer
Print

Living with hard water

ShareTweetPinShareTumble

We've all experienced the annoying results of hard water: White-encrusted

faucets, spotted glasses, dull, filmy hair. Let's take a look at the good, the bad
and the ugly of hard water and how to
live with it.

According to a US geological survey,

hard water is found in more than 85
percent of the country. With these kinds
of numbers, we've probably all had to
deal with it at one time or another. So
what makes it "hard?" Is it harmful to our
homes or to us? What can we do about it?

Hard water: What is it?

When water falls as rain, it's "soft" and free of minerals. It picks up minerals as it
passes through rock, sand and soil. Hard water is high in mineral salts, especially
calcium and magnesium ions. Water hardness is measured in grains per gallon,
with a degree of hardness ranging from 1 to over 10. Hard water, generally, is not
harmful to our health.

So, what's the problem?

Even though other minerals exist in hard water, it's the calcium and magnesium
that create problems. When heated, these minerals precipitate out of water and
encrust themselves onto items as "scale" or mineral deposits, affecting the
performance of household appliances. These scale mineral deposits are
unsightly in bathrooms and kitchens, and they're challenging to remove. Soaps
and detergents lather poorly in hard water, so we tend to use more, resulting in a
soapy film or scum residue.

Problems created by hard water

o Hard water minerals can clog pipes and reduce water flow.
o Film and scale can accumulate on tile and bath/kitchen fixtures.
o An invisible soapy film on skin can leave it feeling dry.
o Excess filmy shampoo residue on hair can leave it looking dull and limp.
o Deposits of scale shortens the life of water heaters.
o Utility bills can increase due to accumulated scale in the water
heater. (Scale is a poor conductor of heat, increasing the energy needed to
heat water.)
o Glasses and dishes remain white filmed and spotted even after cleaning.
o Reduced sudsing action can leave clothes looking gray and dingy.
 o Harsh minerals in hard water reduce the life of clothes.
o Hard water can affect the taste of tea and coffee.

Is installing a water softener the solution?

To soften or not to soften? A water softener will take care of the hard water
problem, but there are other things to consider before converting over to a soft
water system:

o The initial cost of the unit.

o A water softener will increase your water usage. According to Consumer
Reports, from 15 to 120 additional gallons of water are used for every
1,000 gallons of soft water processed.
o Expect to see a higher electric bill due to the cost of operating the unit.
o The sodium level of the water will increase slightly, which might be a health
consideration.

Other solutions to help deal with hard water

These recommendations can lessen hard water problems and, in some cases,
save you some money, too:

o Use a rinsing agent or distilled vinegar in the dishwasher to remove white

film and spots. Reducing the temperature of the hot water heater also will
help.
o Follow the laundry detergent manufacturer's instructions on using the
product with hard water.
o For better-tasting coffee, run a pot of strong white vinegar water through
your coffee machine from time to time.
o Look for soaps and shampoos especially formulated for hard water. A final
rinse of 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 3/4 cup water can help remove
dulling product buildup.
 o Remove calcified buildup on pipes and appliances on a regular basis.
o Flush your hot water heater occasionally as directed in the owner's
manual.
o Consider changing evaporative cooler pads more often.
o Inspect and clean your outdoor irrigation system regularly.
o Use white vinegar on tiles, glass, and faucets to help remove mineral
deposits.
o Brew coffee or tea with bottled water.

Are there advantages to hard water?

Drinking hard water can reduce your risk of osteoporosis because of the calcium
carbonate in the water. For this to be true, however, a good supply of vitamin D is
necessary in the diet since it helps your body absorb calcium. A 2004 Finnish
study suggests the minerals in hard water can help prevent heart disease, as
well.

More on hard water solutions

Cleaning with vinegar

Soothing solutions for sensitive skin

Why you need magnesium

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ome test Join AUS-e-TUTE game conta

and Saponification
pts
 are produced during the chemical reaction known as saponification.
nification is the reaction between a fat or oil and a base, producing glycerol and a salt (soap)
or oil + base -----> glycerol + salt (soap)
are usually sodium or potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids
are cleaning agents or detergents.
cules of soap are made up of two parts:
on-polar, hydrophobic tail consisting of a long hydrocarbon chain
ydrophilic, negatively charged, carboxylate ion (anion) head
ophobic: aversion to water, not readily wettable by water.
drophilic: affinity for water, wettable by water

tion
heat glycerol salt
+ base +
-----> (alkanol) (soap)

+ NaOH
heat
----->
R'OH + RCOO-Na+ Search this Sit
You can search this site using a key term or
find tutorials, tests, exams and learning ac
(games).

yceryl tristearate NaOH glycerol sodium stearate

+ ---> +
(ester) (base) (alkanol) (salt, soap)

O
Become an AUS
|| H TUTE Membe
|
O- C -(CH2)16-CH3
H- C -OH
O
|| |
AUS-e-TUTE's B
O- C -(CH2)16-CH3 + 3NaOH ---> H- C -OH + 3CH3(CH2)16COO-Na+

O | Subscribe to our
||
H- C -OH Newsletter
O- C -(CH2)16-CH3 Email
| subscribe to AUS-e-TUTE's free qua
H newsletter, AUS-e-NEWS.
are made from vegetable oils such as olive oil, palm oil and coconut oil.
are made from animal fats (tallows).

oaps tend to be softer and more water-soluble than the corresponding sodium soap.

unsaturated fatty acids are softer than those from saturated fatty acids.

Action of Soaps
such as sodium stearate dissolves in water, carboxylate anions and metal cations are

water
H3(CH2)16COO-Na+ CH3(CH2)16COO-(aq) + Na+(aq)
----->

ar, hydrophobic, long hydrocarbon chain end of the

on attaches to non-polar dirt, grease and oil. AUS-e-NEWS is emailed out
December, March, June, and Sept
ilic, carboxylate anion end is attracted to polar water
y ion-dipole interactions.

s, clusters of soap molecules in which the hydrocarbon chains Ask Chris, the Che
to each other by Van der Waals forces (dispersion forces,
es, weak intermolecular forces), surround the non-polar dirt particle, with the anion a Question
ed to the surrounding water.
The quickest way to find the definition o
to ask Chris, the AUS-e-TUTE Chem
ed, the soil particle surrounded by soap micelles breaks free and remains dispersed in
water because the carboxylate anions repel each other.

icle surrounded by soap micelles forms an emulsion in the washing water. An

a suspension of one liquid in another liquid. Soap is an emulsifying agent because it
be suspended in water.

g agent, soap suffers from two main drawbacks:

s not function well in acidic solutions because of the formation of insoluble fatty acid
H3(CH2)16COO-Na+(aq) + HCl(aq) -----> CH3(CH2)16COOH(s) + Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)
ms insoluble precipitates with Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions present in hard water, forming a scum Chris can also send you to the rel
CH3(CH2)16COO-Na+(aq) + Ca2+(aq) -----> [CH3(CH2)16COO-]2Ca2+(s) + 2Na+(aq) AUS-e-TUTE tutorial topic pa

ch as sodium carbonate and phosphates can help offset these effects.

gents are increasingly being used instead of soaps because they do not suffer from
antages to the same extent.
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CHEMISTRY 122: SYNTHESIS of SOAP

INTRODUCTION

Soap is produced by the saponification (hydrolysis) of a triglyceride (fat or oil). (See Figure 1.)
In this process the triglyceride is reacted with a strong base such as sodium or potassium
hydroxide to produce glycerol and fatty acid salts. The salt of the fatty acid is called a soap.

Fatty acids are straight-chain monocarboxylic acids. The most common fatty acids range in size
from 10-20 carbons and most often have an even number of carbon atoms including the carboxyl
group carbon. The carbon-carbon bonds in saturated fatty acids are all single bonds, while
unsaturated fatty acids have one or more carbon-carbon double bonds in their chains. One
example of a saturated fatty acid is palmitic acid, CH3-(CH2)14-CO2H.

Fatty acids are seldom found as free molecules in nature but are most often a part of a larger
molecule called a triglyceride. Triglycerides consist of a three-membered carbon chain (glycerol
backbone) with a fatty acid bonded to each of the three carbon atoms in the glycerol backbone.
The bond between the fatty acid and the glycerol backbone is referred to as an ester linkage. In
the saponification process the ester linkage is broken to form glycerol and soap.
 Figure 1. Saponification of a triglyceride

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE FOR SYNTHESIS OF SOAP

1. PUT ON YOUR CHEMICAL SPLASH-PROOF SAFETY GOGGLES!

Caution: Oil will be hot, and may splatter or catch fire. Wear goggles at all times.

Assembling the hot water bath

2. Assemble a hot water bath by filling an 800 mL beaker approximately 3/4 full with
water and begin heating the water with a bunsen burner.

3. Add three or four boiling chips to the water in the hot water bath to prevent the
water from boiling over.
Preparing the reaction mixture
4. In a 150 mL beaker add the following ingredients.

A. 15 mL of oil (or 10 g of solid shortening)

B. 20 mL of 20% NaOH

C. 10 mL of ethanol

D. 3 boiling chips (These will help prevent the mixture from boiling over while it is
being heating.)

5. Note the total volume (level) in the 150 mL beaker and how many layers the
ingredients initially form.

Heating the reaction mixture

6. Begin heating the reaction mixture by clamping the beaker and contents in the hot
water bath. Heat the mixture for about 25 minutes after the water comes to a slow
boil. The 150 mL beaker should be clamped so that the reaction mixture is below the
level of the water in the water bath. Maintain the water level in the water bath by
adding water as needed.

7. Using a stirring rod, stir the reaction mixture frequently so that it does not boil over.

8. Maintain the total volume of the reaction mixture by adding small quantities of 1:1
(volume/volume) ethanol-deionized water.

9. After the initial 25 minute heating there should be no separation of layers in the
beaker.

Testing the reaction mixture

10. Test the reaction mixture to determine if the saponification process is complete by
carefully placing a few drops of the reaction mixture in a 6-inch test tube. Add 10 mL
of cold water. If fat droplets form, add 5 mL of the 20% NaOH and 5 mL of ethanol to
the beaker and continue to heat for an additional 10 minutes, or until no fat droplets
form upon testing.

Isolating the soap CAUTION: Remember that the beaker and clamp are hot!
11. When the saponification process is complete, turn the bunsen burner off, add 25
mL of deionized water to the beaker and place the beaker on the bench top to cool for
about 5-6 minutes. Then place the soap reaction beaker into an ice bath and cool for
about 10 minutes.

12. At this point, measure out about 50 mL of saturated NaCl solution and cool it also
for about 5-6 minutes in the ice bath.

13. After the cooling time is complete for the soap reaction mixture, decant any liquid
from the beaker. (Be careful not to pour off the soap.)

14. Next add, add the 50 mL cold, saturated NaCl solution to the soap beaker and stir
thoroughly with a glass rod. This process separates the soap from the glycerol and
excess base and is called "salting out."

15. Collect the solid soap, using a Buchner funnel. [Note: Decant as much liquid off
before adding the solid soap to the Buchner funnel.]

16. While the air is being drawn over the soap in the funnel, wash the soap with two
20 mL volumes of ice cold deionized water. Continue to draw air over the soap for
another 3 minutes.

Analyzing the soap

17. Fill four, 6-inch test tubes one-third full with deionized water. Place a small
amount of the soap in each test tube and mix the soap and water well.

A. Test the pH of the first tube by dipping a clean stirring rod into the solution and
touching the solution to both red and blue litmus paper. Record your observations
on the Data Sheet.

B. In the second test tube add several drops of calcium chloride solution. Record
your observations.

C. In the third test tube add several drops of iron(III) chloride solution. Record your
observations.

D. In the fourth test tube add a single drop of kerosene and shake the solution.
Record your observations.

18. Pour the contents of the four test tubes into the designated waste container.

Soap disposal
19. Place the soap in the designated container.

20. Thoroughly rinse all of the glassware with water before storing.

A carboxylic acid /ˌkɑːrbɒkˈsɪlɪk/ is an organic compound that contains a carboxyl

group (C(O)OH).[1] The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R–C(O)OH, with R referring to the
rest of the (possibly quite large) molecule. Carboxylic acids occur widely and include the amino
acids (which make up proteins) and acetic acid (which is part of vinegar and occurs in metabolism).

Salts and esters of carboxylic acids are called carboxylates. When a carboxyl group is deprotonated,
its conjugate base forms a carboxylate anion. Carboxylate ions are resonance-stabilized, and this
increased stability makes carboxylic acids more acidic than alcohols. Carboxylic acids can be seen
as reduced or alkylated forms of the Lewis acid carbon dioxide; under some circumstances they can
be decarboxylated to yield carbon dioxide.
carboxylate is a salt or ester of a carboxylic acid. Carboxylate salts have the general formula
M(RCOO)n, where M is a metal andn is 1,2,...; carboxylate esters have the general formula RCOOR'.
R and R' are organic groups; R'≠H.

A carboxylate ion is the conjugate base of a carboxylic acid, RCOO−. It is an ion with negative
charge.

Resonance stabilization of the carboxy

In liquid perfume, the liquid is a mixture of alcohol,water and molecules that

evaporates at room temperature. "A smell is basically a molecule that's
light enough to float in the air, although not every molecule that's light
enough to float in the air has a smell -- carbon monoxide, for example,"
says Avery Gilbert, a sensory psychologist who has consulted for the
fragrance industry. What creates the fragrance is that cells in your nose
recognize the evaporating molecules and send electrical messages to
yourbrain, which creates a perception. To learn exactly how we smell,
read How Smell Works.
If you've read the French phrases on your perfume bottle, you may know
that perfumes come in different strengths. The most concentrated are
perfume oils. They have been pressed out, steamed out or chemically
separated out of a plant, flower or fruit [source: Sell]. In perfume oil,
fragrance molecules are dissolved in 98 percent alcohol and 2 percent
water. Everything else is alcohol-diluted perfume oil. From most to least
concentrated, parfum is at least 25 percent perfume oil; eau de parfum is
15 to 18 percent; eau de toilette is 10 percent; and eaux de cologne and
body spray are lighter [source: Turin and Sanchez].
The perfume world also classifies perfumes into scent families. The
categories exist because critics and designers use the terms. There are no
groupings that everyone agrees on, nor any rule about categorization
beyond common sense and a perfume belonging if it smells like the last
perfume in the category. Here are some classifications you may have
encountered:
 Floral: smells like flowers
 Fruity: smells like fruit, including citrus
 Green: fresh grass or leaves
 Herbaceous: like any variety of herbs
 Woody: like different types of wood
 Amber: like tree resin
 Animalic: bodily smells
 Musk: like a substance made by the musk deer
 Oriental: amber and spice

[source: Turin and Sanchez]

Sometimes perfumes are categorized according to the structure of one of
its fragrant molecules:

 Aldehydic: fatty but makes other smells radiate

 Lactonic: creamy and fruity
 Phenolic: smells like tar

Tired of these subjective categories? There are no ambiguities in the

chemistry of perfume, except in the secret ingredients, of course. Read on
to learn basic perfume chemistry.