Manufacture of Multicolored and Multicomponent Soaps

Luis Spitz
L. Spitz, Inc., Highlond Park, Illinois, USA

Introduction
The first multicolored soaps were the mottled laundry soaps. Introduced over a century ago in Germany and later in France, Spain and Italy, they were made from bleached palm and coconut oils, and became accepted by the public as high-quality soaps. Today, most laundry soaps are blue, and the mottling effect is obtained by using ultramarine blue dye. This chapter introduces the subject with a brief history of multicolored and multicomponent toilet soaps. More soap history details are found in Chapter 1. Multicolored/multicomponent soaps are classified into marbleized, striped, speckled, and two-tone types. The manufacturing system for each type is described and illustrated. These soaps offer potential marketing advantages over single-color soaps with or without additives. The visual differentiation over single- color soaps provides aesthetic advantages for the multicolored types, and for the multicomponent types can show the ingredient(s) which claim to enhance product performance. The freshness multicolored soap category was introduced in 1968 with Henkels Fa bar which rejuvenated the bar-soap market. Shortly thereafter, many multicolored fresh soap brands appeared worldwide. Line extensions of existing and new multicomponent/multicoloredbars by Henkel (Dial), ColgatePalmolive, Unilever, Evyap, Dalan, and other companies are launched periodically, confirming the longevity and growth potential of this successful forty-year-old soap category.

Fa (7 968): The Marbleized FreshnessnSoap

The original 1954 Die Seife Fa Fdntastic was a skin-care bar. In 1968 Die Frische Fa (The Fresh Fa), a marbleized green-and-yellow soap with the wild freshness of limes, started the new freshness soap category. Fas success prompted many competitors to enter the market. Freshness, combined with deodorant and antibacterial claims, is an active soap category today.

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Atlantik and Pacific ( 1 969- 1970)

In 1969 Unilever introduced Atlantik soap in Germany, highlighting its Seaweed Extract ingredient. The soaps name, shape, ingredients, color, and package design are the best examples of an integrated consistent bar-soap product concept and execution. The Pacific companion soap followed in 1970.

Irish Spring ( 1 972)

In 1972, Irish Spring, The Double Deodorant Soap bar with The Freshness of an Irish Morning, was introduced. It was the first freshness category green-and-white marbleized soap in the United States. Later, Irish Spring bars with different names were launched in many countries. In 1986 the product was changed into a deodorant soap with skin conditioners and packaged in a green carton. In 2008 six Irish Spring variants were offered in the U.S. market.

Coast ( 1 974)
Procter & Gamble (P&G) entered the multicolored category in 1974 with the blue-and-white marbleized Coast bar. The original Eye-opener Refreshing Deodorant Soap was produced with a patented solid-solid manufacturing system. White-and-blue pellets of different diameters pelletized to different lengths and in different ratios were fed into the final stage of the Duplex Vacuum Plodder (Fig. 12.5 later in chapter). To enhance the marbleizing effect, one can shave off a thin surface of the extruded slugs (billets), and recycle the shavings. Stamping the slugs at an angle (on a bias) will also improve their appearance. Irish Spring and Coast are stamped at an angle (Fig. 12-19 later in this chapter). P&G sold the Coast brand to The Dial Corporation in 2000. In 2008 two marbleized bars were offered: Coast Arctic and Coast Pacific Force.

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Dove Nutrium (2000)

The Dove Nutrium bar was introduced in late 2000 after the success of the Nutrium Moisturizing Body Wash. This was the first time that a liquid product was later introduced in a solid-bar version. Unilevers Dove Nutrium is a multicomponent, striped, dual-formula bar with a white moisturizing cleanser and a pink nutrient-enriched lotion with vitamin E. Dove Nutrium w s the only multicomponent/multicolored a bar on the market which showed two distinct soaps. The 2008 version called Nutrium Cream Oil Beauty Bar was a solid pink bar. The striped version has been discontinued.

Multicoloredand Multicomponent Soap Types

Four distinct types of multicolored and multicomponent soaps are available. In the soap type and manufacturing method descriptions, the pnmary base refers to the larger quantity, predominant color soap base. The secondary base is the lesser quantity second color base.

Marbleized
Marbleized (also called marbled, variegated, and mottled) soaps are produced by dosing or injecting an additional color into the primary base soap which can be white or colored. Detail of a Dial bar is shown.

Striped
Striped soaps with well-defined linear designs are produced by the controlled addition (injection) of a secondary base of one color into a primary base of another color, such as this sample from Dalan (Turkey).

Speckled
Speckled soaps are formed by the proportioned addition of small speckles (granules) or larger chunks of different colors and/or different colors and types of product added into the primary base, such as this sample from Prede Provence (France)

Two-Tone
Two-tone toilet and laundry soaps are formed when the primary and secondary bases are fed into non-tangential twin-worm plodders. These plodders are side-by-side with separate worm barrels and Individual Worms. The two different bases move through the plodder separately until extrusion. Sideby-side, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, radial, and multiple patterns can be produced. See the samples below for (A) Two-Tone Toilet Soaps [Evyap, Turkey] and (B) Two-Tone Laundry Soaps

Handcrafted Artisan Soaps-An

Old/New Niche Market

The handcrafted, artisan soaps with special ingredients, performance claims, and very interesting designs have grown in popularity during the last two decades. What started as a hobby for many home soap makers grew into small-business enterprises. In 1998 The Handcrafied Soap Makers Guild (HSMG) was formed with these objectives: to promote the handcrafted soap industry, to act as a center of communications among soap makers, and to circulate beneficial information to them. HSMG is a nonprofit international organization with 800 members. An annual conference is open to members and also to nonmembers. Comprehensive information for this growing niche market for the various homemade soap manufacturers, production methods, formulations, reference books, and raw material and equipment suppliers is found on the H S M G Web site www.soapguild.org.

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Manufacturing Systems, Methods, and Product Types

Table 12.1. All the Manufacturing Methods presented are based on Mazzoni LB technology.
Manufacturing System Manufacturing Methods Color Dosing into the Extrusion Stage Plodder .Color Injection into the Extrusion Stage Plodder -Color Injection into the Extrusion Stage Plodder Barrel Product Types

Solid-Liquid

Marbleized

Solid-Solid

Utilizing two separate single-worm Marbleized plodders for feeding two differentsize soap pellets Utilizing non-tangential twin-worm Two-tone plodder Using speckles, granules and Speckled "chunks" feeder group Co-extruder with striping group Co-extruder with striping and marbleizing group Combination solid-solid and solid-liquid Striped Striped and Marbleized Striped and Marbleized Two-Tone Striped

Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion Solid-Solid-Liquid

Solid-Liquid Systems for Marbleized Soaps

Solid-Liquid Systems for marbleized soap production consist of: Duplex Vacuum Plodder

Color Dosing/Injecting Group

or a Duplex Vacuum Plodder Color-Dosing Group, and a Marbleizing group.

Color Dosing into the Extrusion-Stage P/odder

The simplest and most economical method is dosing a color solution into the Extrusion Stage of the Duplex Vacuum plodder. The random color distribution (the marbleized effect) is difficult to control (Fig.12.1).

Color Injection into the Extrusion-Stage Plodder Barrel

A color solution is injected into the Duplex Vacuum Plodder's Extrusion Stage plodder barrel (Fig. 12.2).

Color Injection into the Extrusion-Stage Plodder

The color solution is injected through a drilled plate with injection nozzles in the Extrusion Stage of the Duplex Vacuum Plodder (Fig. 12.3). A Rotor Drive Group can be added for independent speed variation of the rotor, allowing one to obtain more marbleizing effects (Fig. 12.4). The striping and marbleizing group assembly is shown in Fig. 12.5.

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Fig. 12.1. Solid-Liquid System for Marbleized Soaps-Color

Dosing into the Extrusion Stage Plodder.

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Fig. 123. SolidUquidSystem for MarbleizedSoap-Color

Injection into the Extrusion Stage Plodder Barrel.

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Fig. 12.3. Solid-Liquid System for Marbleized Soaps-Color

Injection into the Extrusion Stage Plodder.

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Fig, 12.4. Solid-Liquid System for Marbleized Soaps-Color with Rotor Drive Group.

Injection into the Extrusion Stage Plodder

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Fig. 12.5. Solid-Liquid System Marbleizingand Striping Group Assembly.

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Solid-Solid System for Marbleized Soaps

Utilizing Two Separate Single-Worm Plodders
Two separate single-worm plodders are used to feed two different diameters and lengths of pellets in a predetermined weight ratio into the Extrusion Stage of a single-worm plodder. The random or partially controlled mixing of the two pellets produces the marbleized effects (Fig. 12.6).

Fig. 12.6. Solid-SolidSystem for Marbleized Bars-Utilizing Two Separate Single-Worm 1st Stage Plodders and One Single-Worm Extrusion Stage Plodder.

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Solid-Solid System for Two-Tone Soaps

Utilizing Non-tangential Twin-Worm Plodders
This system requires the use of a Non-Tangential Twin-Worm Duplex Vacuum Plodder. Two different soap bases are fed into each first stage plodder and proceed separately until extrusion. The two bases meet when they reach the extrusion head, which is provided with a baffle. This system can produce various two-tone designs (Fig. 12.7).
Primarv Base Secondary Base Non-Tangential Refining-Pelletizing

Non-Tangential

Duplex Vacuum Plodder

Twin- Worm Extrusion Srage

Fig. 12.7. Solid-SolidSystem for Two-Tone Soaps- Utilizing Non-Tangential Twin-Worm Plodders.

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Solid-Solid System for Speckled Soaps

Additives Proportioned into the First-Stage or Extrusion Stage Plodder
Randomly distributed speckles, granules and small colored soap "chunks" can be added with a feeder group into either the first stage or the extrusion stage plodder (Fig. 12.8. and Fig. 12.9).

Additives Dosing

Group

Additives Dosing Group

Duplex

Vacuum
Plodder

Specked, & "Chunky Granulated" Slugs

Duplex Vacuum Plodder

Speckled, Granulated & "Chunky" Slugs

Primary Base Feed Hopper

Speckles, Granules & Chunks Feed Hopper Dosing Worm RefinAg/Pe/letizing Stage Refining/Pel/etizing Stage Extrusion Stage

Speckles, Granules & Chunks Feed Hopper

Dosing Worm

Extrusion stage

Fig. 12.8 819. Solid-Solid System for Soaps with Speckles, Granules, and "Chunks."

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Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion Systems for Striped, Marbleized, and TwoTone Soaps

To obtain well-defined striped soaps, a Co-Extrusion System consisting of:
A standard Duplex Vacuum Plodder for the primary base A Simplex Co-extruder Plodder for the injection of the secondary base
An interconnecting striping/marbleizing group with a tube-bundle cylinder: tube bundle; drilled plate; rotor-drive group-this optional group can run the rotor at different speeds than the fixed plodder worm speed, allowing one to obtain a wider range of marbleized effects. The tube bundle has different diameter tubes. The primary base soap is fed through the larger diameter tubes and co-extruded secondary base, which is always of lesser quantity, through the smaller tubes.

Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion System for Marbleized Soaps

This system includes a rotor device for the production of marbleized soaps (Fig. 12.10). If the rotor is removed, striped soaps can be made.

Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion System forStriped Soaps

The refined/pelletized primary base from the Duplex Vacuum Plodder is extruded into the tube bundle of the striping group assembly. A secondary base co-extruder (Simplex Plodder) feeds the secondary base also into the tube bundle. To achieve the striped patterns, the two bases remain separate until they exit from the extrusion head (Fig. 12.1 1).

Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion Group Assembly without Rotor forStriping

This is a complete system including a rotor-drive group (Fig. 12.12 and 13).

Solid-Solid Co-ExtrusionAssemby with Rotor Drive Group for Striping and Marbleizing (Fig. 12.14.) Solid-Solid-liquid Co-ExtrusionMultipurpose System forStriped and Marbleized Soaps
This multipurpose combination system includes all the components of the Solid-Solid and the SolidLiquid systems. (Fig. 12.15.)

Solid-Solid Co-Extrusion System for Two-ToneStriped Soaps

This system utilizes aTangential Twin-Word Plodder and a Single-Worm Co-Extruder for the production of interesting two-tone striped designs (Fig. 12.16).