Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Baking soda lead to a soap???

  • Baking soda lead to a soap???

    Posted by fekher on February 25, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    Actually for softer soap comparing to potassuim and soduim and for more secure product comparing to trolamine soap i was thinking about baking soda soap so in  the net i read in many sites that we can not have soap from baking soda however i was not at all convainced.
    So to verify i tried it in my laboratory and the result was not surprising that the answer yeees we can make soap with baking soda .
    Just according to this experience saponification with baking soda is moore difficult then any other saponification i have made . why? ( you need to know adequat amount of saponification, the solubility of baking soda in water is low comparing to other bases, decomposition of baking soda by increasing the temperature when trying increasing solubilty of baking soda in water by heating , the huge increasing of oil’s volume in saponification “cause the reaction produce CO2” 
    The final product was may softer however i did not like the texture at all.

    fekher replied 5 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • fekher

    Member
    February 26, 2019 at 7:36 pm

    update: 
    After one day of making baking soda soap you will obtain solid soap near to soduim hydroxyde one however the foam is too  low comparing to other type of soaps using same level of oils and same level of super fat .

  • gunther

    Member
    February 26, 2019 at 8:07 pm

    I don’t think Sodium bicarbonate can saponify oils or fats, and if it does, the reaction will be too slow and possibly require higher temps and maybe pressures.

    On the other hand, baking soda can well neutralize free fatty acids.

    As to why, for ester hydrolysis that is breaking up oils and fats back to free fatty acids and glycerin, you need a strong acid or base and baking Soda ain’t strong enough.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponification#Mechanism_of_base_hydrolysis

    While you could easily hydrolyze oils yourself with hydrochloric acid, purification may become troublesome, so it might be better to buy ready-made distilled fatty acids.

    By the way, you can try neutralizing fatty acids with ammonium carbonate, as they feel WAY milder than Sodium or Potassium soaps.

  • fekher

    Member
    February 26, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    @Gunther actually the reaction did not need high pression or longer time and baking soda is stronger then TEA wich is already able to make soap.

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