Using of mucilage palm oil in the toilet soap production

Abstract

Mucilage palm oil (M.P.O.) was obtained from physical refining step for crude palm oil. The components of M.P.O. were high content of free fatty acids (82.2%) with simple amount of neutral oil (11.9%), while the residual content (unsaponifiable matter and impurities) was 2.1% and in addition to 3.8% water. The results indicated that the colours of M.P.O., tallow and palm kernel oil improved after bleaching. Eight soap samples (n.os 1-8) were prepared from bleached fatty blends of mucilage palm oil, tallow and palm kernel oil at different ratios. The results showed that the moisture contents of soap samples n.os 2, 7 and 8 were high compared with the standard soap (sample n.o 1), subsequently their total fatty matters became lower than that found in the control soap (sample n.o 1). The findings marked that the unsaponifiable matter of soaps n.os 2, 7 and 8 were higher compared with the other soaps. No high differences were observed in the free alkali of all soaps (range from 0.06 to 0.09%). On the other hand, high differences were found in the free oil of all soap samples (n.os 2-8) compared with the standard soap (sample n.o 1), except soap samples n.os 2, 7 and 8, which record very high. The best soap samples in the colour were in the following increasing order: n.os 1 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 2, respectively. The results showed that the better soap samples in the physical properties were in the following increasing order: soap n.o 3> soap n.o 4> soap n.o 5> soap n.o 6 compared with the standard soap (sample n.o 1), where from firm structure with high foam, while the other soap samples (n.os 2, 7 and 8) were poor quality (i.e., low lathering properties with deep colours). Therefore, it could be concluded that mucilage palm oil can be used as a new fatty material for toilet soap manufacturing at ratio of 40% from the fatty blend.