Liquid soap concentrate

[Organic.chemist]

C16-c18 and unsaturated C18 (27%)
Coconut oil (4%)
Olive oil 4%
Soyabean oil 7%
Food grade alcohols 7%
Sodium bicarbonate 1%
Water 50%
This is recipe i designed with KOH but i didn't get what viscosity and transparency i needed...
My friend told me it will take too long to cook oils with lye at leat 15 days..( is it makes sense)
Can you tell me role of each ingredient in this recipe... And how can i get best liquid concentrate from these ingredients so that can be diluted for further use... As hand soap ,all purpose and so on...
Please respond to my questions..
Thanks

 

[AliOop]

Hi @Organic.chemist, and welcome.

My liquid soap recipes do not take longer than 15-20 minutes to cook - certainly not 15 days. You can even make it without heat at all, simply by bringing the batter to a thick trace, and then covering it to let it sit overnight to finish on its own.

Also, unless you add a very targeted amount of salt (sodium chloride), among other things, most liquid soap recipes will create a paste, not a liquid concentrate. The paste is very easy to store and dilute with warm or hot water as needed.

If you would like to learn more about liquid soap-making, including recipes and techniques, we have a great forum for that right here: Liquid and Cream Soap Forum.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

What you've posted looks like a weird mix of a recipe and a fatty acid profile. Olive and soybean oil are essentially 100% “C16-c18 and unsaturated C18”, and coconut by about a quarter as well.

Most liquid soap recipes, even cold-process LS, will have a paste as the final product, that can be easily stored and diluted to the desired concentration/viscosity whenever needed.

 

[Organic.chemist]

Thanks for Re

What you've posted looks like a weird mix of a recipe and a fatty acid profile. Olive and soybean oil are essentially 100% “C16-c18 and unsaturated C18”, and coconut by about a quarter as well.

Most liquid soap recipes, even cold-process LS, will have a paste as the final product, that can be easily stored and diluted to the desired concentration/viscosity whenever needed.

Thanks for your Response Dear, actually the percentage i have given not for the material its for their amount in my formulation... You are little mis guaided here , apology for that... I meant to say 27% of my formulation is C16-C18 sat and C18 unsat.. 4% olive...4% sunflower...and so on...

 

[ResolvableOwl]

The 4% sunflower are new to the formula (?).

But I notice that the percentages in your initial post do add up to 100%. Does that mean that you have a source of some mixture of C16-C18 fatty acids with unknown composition and degree of unsaturation, and you want to use it for soapmaking?
That's in principle possible, but quite risky. First, FA chain length and degree of unsaturation have an influence on molecular mass, i. e. the amount of KOH you need to neutralise the FAs. You neither want to have excess FAs (separating from the soap, ruining lather, greasy skin feel) nor excess KOH (chemical burns on skin). So, unless you know for sure the saponification value of your C16-C18 FA blend, you will have to titrate it. For the other oils, you have the titration value pre-made and tabulated in any soap calculator.
Another issue, when you don't know the ratio of saturated and unsaturated FAs, you can only guess how the outcome will be. Anything above 10% saturated FAs can make the finished soap turbid by itself (e. g. potassium stearate precipitation). If your goal is a transparent soap, avoid ingredients with high content of long-chain saturated FAs. (Medium-chain saturated FAs like in coconut oil are fine)

 

[Organic.chemist]

Thank you so much for

The 4% sunflower are new to the formula (?).

But I notice that the percentages in your initial post do add up to 100%. Does that mean that you have a source of some mixture of C16-C18 fatty acids with unknown composition and degree of unsaturation, and you want to use it for soapmaking?
That's in principle possible, but quite risky. First, FA chain length and degree of unsaturation have an influence on molecular mass, i. e. the amount of KOH you need to neutralise the FAs. You neither want to have excess FAs (separating from the soap, ruining lather, greasy skin feel) nor excess KOH (chemical burns on skin). So, unless you know for sure the saponification value of your C16-C18 FA blend, you will have to titrate it. For the other oils, you have the titration value pre-made and tabulated in any soap calculator.
Another issue, when you don't know the ratio of saturated and unsaturated FAs, you can only guess how the outcome will be. Anything above 10% saturated FAs can make the finished soap turbid by itself (e. g. potassium stearate precipitation). If your goal is a transparent soap, avoid ingredients with high content of long-chain saturated FAs. (Medium-chain saturated FAs like in coconut oil are fine)

Thank you so much for such a great explanation...love and Respect for you