Research paper

1. History of Natural Soap
Biochemistry Project 1 by Imran * Jimmy * Lingareddy

2. Introduction
• What is Natural
Soap?
• Origin of Soap
• How Soap is made?
• How Soap works?
• Characteristics and
uses of Soap
• Soap manufacturing
• Recent
manufacturing
technology

3. What is natural soap?
• Soap is a cleansing
agent mainly used Chemically
for washing and speaking, soap is a
salt of a fatty acid .It
cleaning, but soaps
is made from the
are also important interaction of fats
components of and oils with alkali.
lubricants.
• Soap normally used
with water
decreases surface

4. Origin of Soap
The word sapo, Latin for soap, first appears in Pliny
the Elder's Historia Naturalis, which discusses the
manufacture of soap from tallow and ashes.
2800 BC : In Ancient Babylon ,
in the reign of Nabonidus the
earliest evidence of the
production of soap-like
material recorded. That recipe
of soap consisted of uhulu
(ashes), cypress (oil) and
sesame (seed oil).
2200 BC : A formula for soap
was written on Babylonian clay
tablet. That formula consists of

5. Origin of Soap
(continued)
• 1550 BC : Egyptians
bathed regularly and
combined animal and
vegetable oils with
alkaline salts to create a
soap-like substance.
Egyptian documents
mention that a soap-like
substance was used in
the preparation of wool
for weaving.
• 1500 BC : Egyptian

6. Origin of Soap
(continued)
• Cleopatra even • 600 BC : There is
used Shea some evidence
Butter as part of that the
her beauty Phoenicians were
regimen. making a soap
from beech ashes
and tallow to wash
their hair.

7. How is soap is made?
• A Soap molecule is formed when a
triglyceride reacts with either sodium or
potassium hydroxide the reaction that
takes place is called Saponification.
• This process results in the production of
Glycerol and Sodium or potassium
stearate (Soap).
• Each soap molecule has a long
hydrocarbon chain, sometimes called its
'tail', with (oil) + Base (lye) = 'head'. (Soap) +
Fatty acid a carboxylate “A Salt”
Glycerol

8. Soap making (continued)

9. Soap making (continued)

10. How soap works?
• Water is largely
polar, and water
molecules tend to
separate into
fragments with
opposite electrical
charges, one
positive(+) and one
negative(-).
• Fats and Oils are not
polar and their
molecules have no
charge, so they are

11. Soap function
(continued)
• The active ion of the soap molecule is the RCOO-.
• The two ends of this ion behave in different fashions. The
carboxylate end (-COO-) is hydrophilic (water-loving), and
it is called the "head" of the ion.
• The hydrocarbon portion is hydrophobic (oil-loving) and is
called the "tail" of the molecule. This unusual molecular
structure is responsible for the unique surface and
solubility characteristics of soaps.

12. Characteristics and uses
of hydrocarbon portions of the soap ions
• The
soap
are attracted to each other and form spherical
aggregates known as micelles. The molecule
tails that are incompatible with water are in
the interior of these micelles, while the
hydrophilic heads remain on the outside to
interact with water. When oil is added to this
system, it is taken into these micelles as tiny
particles. Then it can be rinsed away.
• Soaps are excellent cleansing agents and
have good biodegradability.
• A serious drawback which reduces their
general use, is the tendency for the
carboxylate ion to react with Ca+ and Mg+
ions in hard water. The result is a water
insoluble salt which can be deposited on

13. Video: How soap works?

14. Soap manufacturing War II. This
• Boiled Process : Used before the end of World
process required mixing fats and oils in large, open kettles,
with caustic soda (NaOH) in the presence of steam. As salt
was added, soap precipitated out and floated at the top.
Later on, it was skimmed off and processed as flakes or
bars. This process involved over six days to produce one
batch.
• Recent process: After World War II, a continuous soap
manufacturing process evolved. In this process, fats and
oils react directly with caustic soda. The saponification
reaction accelerates at high temperatures (248°F; 120°C)
and pressures (2 atm). Glycerin washed out of the system
and soap was centrifuged and neutralized. This process is
more efficient and allows faster recovery of glycerin.
• Some more chemicals like Oleum and Alkenes were added

15. Tips and tools for creating and presenting
wide format slides

16. Acknowledgements
• http://science.jrank.org/pages/6214/Soap.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap
• http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes
%205.htm#_ftn9
• http://knol.google.com/k/making-natural-soap-and-its-
history#
• http://barsoapnatural.com/blog/a-history-of-natural-soap/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap
• http://science.jrank.org/pages/6214/Soap.html