6.

2 Soap and Detergents

 Soap comprises the sodium or potassium salts of
various fatty acids, but chiefly of oleic, steric, palmitic,
lauric and mystic acids.
PROPERTIES OF SOAP AND DETERGENTS     For generations its use has increased until its
manufacture has become an industry essential to the
DETERGENTS comfort and health of civilized human beings
 The main classes of soap are toilet soap and
 Detergents differ from soap in their action in hard industrial soap
water.

 It is the sodium salts of long chain benzene  

sulphonic acids. STRUCTURE OF SOAP
 Detergents have been divided into four main The bar soap in the market consists of regular and
groups: superfatted toilet soaps, deodorant, and/ or antimicrobial
soap, floating soap, transparent/translucent, marbelized and
1. hard water soaps.
1. Anionic
2. Cationic  Almost all soaps contains perfume, even tough it is
3. Nonionic not apparent, serving merely to disguise the original
4. Amphoteric soapy odor.

 Scientifically, the term detergent covers both soap  Toilet soaps are made from selected materials and
and synthetic detergents, or “syndets” usually cointains only 10 to 15% moisture.
 Shaving soaps contains a considerable portion of
SURFACTANTS potassium soap and an excess of stearic acid, the
combination giving a slower-drying lather.

o These embrace “any compound” that
 “Brushless” shaving creams contain stearic acid and
affects surface tension when dissolved in water.
fats with much less soap.
o The surfactants of both soap and synthetic
detergents perform the primary cleaning and
 
sudsing of the washing action in the same way
through the reduction of surface tension COMPARISON

USES
SOAP DETERGENT
1. Thoroughly wetting the dirt and
the surface of the article being washed with  These are sodium
detergent solution salts of long chain
 They are metal salts
2. Removing the dirt from the hydrocarbons like alkyl
of long chain higher fatty
surface sulphates or alkyl
acids.
3. Maintaining the dirt in a stable benzene sulphonates.
 These are prepared
solution or suspension.  They are prepared
from vegetable oils and
from hydrocarbons of
animal fats.
  petroleum or coal.
 They cannot be used
 These do not
effectively in hard water
produce insoluble
as they produce scum.
precipitates in hard
  water.
 

SOAPS
  
    

NOW TO THE PROCESS! SPLITTING METHODS

SOAP MANUFACTURING
         
INGREDIENTS
  
FATS
 
 Beef or mutton tallow (51.5 %)
SOAP PURIFICATION
 Greases (20.8%)
In the soap purification stage, any remaining sodium
OILS hydroxide is neutralized with a weak acid, like citric acid and
two thirds of the remaining water is removed to obtain pure
 Coconut (15%) soap. 
 Palm
 Palm kernel The mixture is then homogenized and refined through
 Fish oils / olive oils rolling mills and refining plodders to achieve thorough
blending and a uniform texture. 
 
FINISHING
Reaction for soap production:
Finally, the mixture is continuously extruded from the
This is commonly called as ‘Saponification’ plodder, cut into bar-size units and stamped into its final
shape in a soap press    

 
In recent years, the chemical reaction is:
DETERGENT MANUFACTURING
Different applications of alkali-metal soaps
INGREDIENTS
The industrial soap making involves four basic steps
 Synthetic surfactants
 Saponification
 Glycerin removal  
 Soap purification
 Finishing SPRAY DRYING PROCESS

 
 

 
 
SAPONIFICATION
AGGLOMERATION
The process results in formation of soap, which is a salt of
long chain carboxylic acid. Helped by the presence of a liquid binder, rolling or shear
mixing causes the ingredients to collide and adhere to each
  
other, forming larger particles.
 

GLYCERIN REMOVAL
 
Glycerin is more valuable than soap, and hence most of it is
 
removed for its uses in more expensive cosmetic products.
DRY MIXING
  
used to blend dry raw materials. Small quantities of liquids
may also be added.