Soap & Detergents
Material selection for soap & detergents
Bar soap, liquid soap and detergent manufacturers all depend on oleochemicals, but they buy at different points in the chain. Finishing plants that mill, plod and stamp bars usually buy soap noodles; integrated soap makers buy fatty acids or oils and fats and saponify them in-house; detergent formulators buy surfactants. Bio Green Oleo supports each route with specification-led sourcing of soap noodles, stearic and lauric fatty acids, fatty acid distillates, glycerine and surfactants.
What the process needs. A bar soap has to plod and stamp cleanly, lather quickly, resist cracking and softening in use, and stay white and odour-stable through its shelf life. The fatty acid blend sets most of these properties. Palm-based C16–C18 fatty matter gives hardness and a dense, long-lasting lather, while lauric oils such as palm kernel or coconut oil (C12–C14) give quick, open lather and solubility. Laundry bars tolerate lower fatty matter and added fillers; toilet bars need higher fatty matter and tighter control of colour and free alkali.
Key specification parameters. For soap noodles, the core figures are total fatty matter (TFM), moisture, free caustic alkali, sodium chloride, glycerine, iodine value and colour or whiteness. Toilet soap noodles are commonly offered at around 76–80% TFM, while laundry noodles are often in the 60–72% range. The blend is usually described as a ratio of non-lauric to lauric fatty matter, with 80/20 and 90/10 the most common. That ratio is a useful shorthand, but ask for the fatty acid composition as well. For fatty acids and distillates bought for in-house saponification, check acid value, iodine value, titre, colour and unsaponifiable matter.
Recommended product types. Soap noodles for bar finishing. Triple- or double-pressed stearic acid for hardness, pearlescence and shaving or cream soaps. Lauric acid, palm kernel oil, palm kernel stearin and PKFAD as lauric sources. PFAD as an economical fatty acid source for laundry and industrial soaps. Refined glycerine for transparent and glycerine soaps. Sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium laureth sulphate (SLES), cocamidopropyl betaine and alkyl polyglucoside for liquid detergents and cleaners.
Documentation. Ask for a specification and a certificate of analysis for the offered lot, the safety data sheet, and any certificates your customers require, such as sustainable palm chain-of-custody or halal certification. Certificate scope depends on the producing site and the supply-chain model, so ask for it with your quotation. Toilet soap sold to consumers is a cosmetic product in the UK and EU, so keep the raw-material information your safety assessor will need.
Handling and shipping. Soap noodles are usually packed in 25 kg bags or larger bulk bags and shipped in containers. Store them dry, out of direct sun and away from heat, which can make them sticky or dry them out and lead to cracked bars. Fatty acids arrive as flakes or beads in bags, or molten in heated tank containers. Rotate stock on a first-in, first-out basis and keep batch numbers traceable to finished production.
Products for Soap & Detergents
Soap Noodles
Soap noodles are the semi-finished extruded pellets that bar soap manufacturers buy in place of running their own saponification. They are graded by total fatty matter and by the palm to palm kernel ratio, commonly 80:20 or 90:10.
Palm Stearic Acid
Palm stearic acid is not pure stearic acid but a graded blend of palmitic and stearic chains, sold by titre. Common grades are 40:60, 50:50 and triple-pressed, and the titre determines hardness, melting point and downstream behaviour.
Palm Kernel Fatty Acid Distillate (PKFAD)
PKFAD is the deodoriser distillate from palm kernel oil refining. It carries the lauric and myristic chains of the parent oil at high free fatty acid content, which makes it a cheap short-chain feedstock for soap and surfactant intermediates.
PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distillate)
PFAD is the condensate recovered from the deodoriser during palm oil refining. Typically 85 to 95 percent free fatty acids, it is a low-cost mixed feedstock for soap, fatty acid recovery, animal feed and biodiesel esterification.
Palm Kernel Oil
For oleochemical conversion, palm kernel oil is bought for chain length rather than for melting behaviour. Roughly half its fatty acids are the twelve-carbon lauric chain on which surfactant, fatty alcohol and soap chemistry all depend.
Glycerine
Glycerine (CAS 56-81-5, INCI Glycerin) is propane-1,2,3-triol, a clear, odourless, syrupy liquid with a sweet taste. It is recovered as the co-product of soap making and biodiesel manufacture, and is traded as crude or refined to 99.5 percent.
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SLS)
Sodium dodecyl sulfate (CAS 151-21-3, INCI Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) is the workhorse anionic surfactant, made by sulphating lauryl alcohol from coconut or palm kernel oil. It foams powerfully and cleans aggressively at low cost.
Alkyl Polyglucoside (APG)
Alkyl polyglucoside (CAS 68515-73-1, INCI Coco-Glucoside) is a non-ionic surfactant made by linking glucose from starch to a fatty alcohol from coconut or palm kernel oil. It is fully plant-derived, readily biodegradable and unusually mild.
Lauric Acid
Lauric acid, systematically dodecanoic acid, is the twelve-carbon saturated fatty acid with CAS number 143-07-7. It is the principal acid of coconut and palm kernel oil and the chain length on which most foaming surfactant chemistry is built.
Palm Kernel Stearin
Fractionating palm kernel oil concentrates its saturated chains into the stearin fraction, taking the iodine value down to single figures. For a converter that means a feed that resists oxidation and consumes little hydrogen on hardening.
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
Sodium laureth sulfate (INCI Sodium Laureth Sulfate) is SLS with ethylene oxide units inserted between the fatty chain and the sulfate head, usually two or three. Those units make it milder, more soluble and far more responsive to salt thickening.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB)
Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAS 61789-40-0, INCI Cocamidopropyl Betaine) is an amphoteric surfactant made from coconut fatty acids. Supplied as a 30 percent solution, it is the standard partner surfactant that boosts foam and reduces the harshness of SLES.
Guar Gum Powder Industrial Grade
Industrial-grade guar gum powder for thickening, binding and suspension in personal-care, liquid-soap, toiletry, lubricant and water-based formulation systems.
Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonic Acid (LABSA)
LABSA at 96 percent active (CAS 27176-87-0), the petrochemical anionic acid that sets the cost floor every oleochemical surfactant is measured against. In 215 kg drums and IBCs for neutralisation on site.
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Start with the process and specification
- End use and required material or feedstock
- Critical analytical limits and physical form
- Handling temperature, storage and pack format
- Volume, documentation needs and delivery destination
Confirm the evidence before ordering
Grade, origin and certification are confirmed for each proposed source. A vegetable-derived feedstock is not automatically certified sustainable, pharmaceutical grade or suitable for every application; request the evidence needed for your intended use.
Product illustrations show representative material and packaging. The quotation confirms the actual source, grade, pack size and labelling.
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