Experiment 6 ]

SOAP MAKING - SAPONIFICATION

OBJECTIVE: study saponification reaction for preparation of soap.

THEORY
Making soap was a long and arduous process. First, the fat had to be rendered (melted
and filtered). Then, a potash solution was added. Since water and oil do not mix, this
mixture had to be continuously stirred and heated sufficiently to keep the fat melted.
Slowly, a chemical reaction called saponification would take place between the fat and
the hydroxide which resulted in a liquid soap. When the fat and water no longer
separated, the mixture was allowed to cool. At this point salt, such as sodium chloride,
was added to separate the soap from the excess water. The soap came to the top, was
skimmed off, and placed in wooden molds to cure. It was aged many months to allow
the reaction to run to completion.
All soap is made from fats and oils, mixed with alkaline (basic) solutions. There are
many kinds of fats and oils, both animal and vegetable. Fats are usually solid at room
temperature, but many oils are liquid at room temperature. Liquid cooking oils originate
from corn, peanuts, olives, soybeans, and many other plants. For making soap, all
different types of fats and oils can be used – anything from lard to exotic tropical plant
oils.

Soap is usually formed by breakdown of triglyceride fats and oils, by the action of strong
base.This process is called saponification. Saponification is hydrolysis of oils and fats
using alkalis like NaOH or KOH. Oils and fats are esters of long-chain fatty acids and
glycerol. So,saponification is actually the reverse process of esterification. The products
of saponification are salts of the concerned fatty acids and glycerol. If NaOH was used
for hydrolysis, a mixture of the sodium salts of the fatty acids, and with KOH the
potassium salts are produced. These soluble alkali metal salts are used as soaps.
Hence, carboxylic acid salt and glycerol in this experiment is produced via a
saponification process which makes use of an alkali.

Saponification process

Fat + lye = Soap + Glycerol

CH2OCOC17H35 CH2OH
| |
CH2OCOC17H35 + 3NaOH ➜ 3C17H35COO͐- Na+ + CHOH
| |
CH2OCOC17H35 CH2OH

The length of the hydrocarbon chain and the number of double bonds in the carboxylic
acid portion of the fat or oil determine the properties of the resulting soap. For example,
a salt of a saturated long chain acid makes a harder, more insoluble soap. Chain length
also affects solubility.

CHEMICALS AND APPARATUS

Chemicals
● Vegetable oil (i.e . palm oil)
● Sodium hydroxide pellets
● Common salt
● Distilled water
● Red and blue litmus stripe
Apparatus
● Beakers (250 ml)
● Test tubes
● Glass rod
● Measuring cylinder
● Weighing bottle
● Water bath
● Vacuum filter
PROCEDURE
Preparation of the soap
❖ We placed 20g of vegetable oil in a 250 ml beaker and added 20 ml of ethanol.
The ethanol and the oil was separated in two layers. Therefore, we swirl the
beaker very well.
Our teacher gave us a variety of oils in order to choose one and we chooed palm
oil.
❖ 5M of NaOH solution of 25 ml was added and mixed well.
❖ We heated the solution on a hot plate and stirred gently with a glass of rod until
the solution turned into a paste. As soon as the consistency began to turn pasty
we stirred it carefully to avoid foaming. We were doing this step for about thirty
minutes.
 ❖ After all the paste was formed, we let the beaker cool on the bench top.
❖ We then added 100ml of saturated sodium chloride after the paste was cold. We
stirred thoroughly by breaking the piece of paste against the walls of the beaker.
This process is called salting out step where the Na+ and Cl- ions bind to water
molecules and help separate them from the soap.
❖ We separated the soap from the rest by using suction filtration. We washed the
soap with 25 ml of ice water through the suction filter . We continued filtering for
about ten minutes to help dry the soap.

CONCLUSION

As you may remember, fats and oils are triesters of glycerol and three fatty acids. Esters
can be hydrolyzed to their alcohol and carboxylic acid components in the presence of
acid or base. Fats, oils, and fatty acids are insoluble in water because their hydrophobic
tails are so long. If a base is used for hydrolysis, the fatty acids produced are
deprotonated and are present as the corresponding carboxylate salts. Because these
product carboxylate salts are charged, they are much more soluble in water than the
corresponding uncharged fatty acids. Since the carboxylate salts also each have a long
nonpolar tail, they are also compatible with nonpolar greases and oils. This experiment
we learn about making soap (saponification) by reacting the fat from cooking oil with
sodium hydroxide. In this experiment, fat acts as a hydrophobic tail and sodium ions
attached to fat chains act as hydrophilic. Water soluble sodium salts of fatty acids, that
is used to remove dirt and grime from a surface. Its molecules have a long hydrocarbon
chain that has a negatively charged head. It's non-polar.

There could have been many errors whilst performing the lab. The first is not measuring
the materials right before pouring them into beakers or heating them. The second may
have been heating the solution/mixture too much before removing it. The third is not
letting the mixture cool down to room temperature before placing it into the cool bath. A
mistake that was probably made but could have been avoided is not letting the NaOH
dissolve properly. To prevent this mistake, we should have made sure when mixing the
oil with ethanol and sodium hydroxide,the mixture is stirred completely to ensure the
solution is dissolved completely.
NaCl helps to precipitate the soap from aqueous solutions. The soap is formed by the
precipitation of the ‘common salt or NaCl’. When the NaCl is added in the aqueous
solution then the reaction occurs, and the soap precipitates out from the solution. When
the soap is added to the solution then the solubility of the soap becomes decreased and
the soap precipitates out from the solution as a solid form. Good soaps are made from
those fatty acids which contain long hydrocarbon chains in addition to the ionic
“head”portion. If the hydrocarbon portion is not sufficiently long, the acid will be too polar
to dissolve dirt.
 Questions

1. What is an emulsion? Which mixture was the better at maintaining an emulsion oil
and water or oil, water, and soap? Explain why on a molecular level.

An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable
or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more
general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids.
The soap, oil, and water mixture is better at maintaining emulsion. The soap is able to
attach to the oil and water molecules, since it is composed of intermolecular attractions
that bind with water and with oil. The polar heads of the soap are attracted to the water
and the tails are attracted to the oil.

2. How can soap remove oil or dirt from clothes?

Normally, oil and water don't mix, so they separate into two different layers. Soap
breaks up the oil into smaller drops, which can mix with the water.
The head of the soap molecule is attracted to water (hydrophilic) and the tail is attracted
to grease and dirt (hydrophobic). The dirt or oil is now completely surrounded by soap
molecules and is broken into smaller pieces which are washed away by the water.
3. What was the role of the ethyl alcohol that was originally added to the reaction
mixture ?

Ethanol is added in order to provide more contact between the triglycerides in the oil
and the aqueous solution of NaOH, and speed up the reaction. Explanation: ...
Ethanol is not only highly soluble in water, but it can also dissolve the oil in itself,
because it is a good solvent, hence forming a solution. It raises the boiling point of the
mixture, which speeds up the saponification reaction. e. It is less polar than water and
helps to dissolve the nonpolar fat so that it can react with the sodium hydroxide.

4.Explain chemically what happens when soap is added to hard water and the problem
that can occur when washing.

Hard water has certain minerals dissolved in it, such as calcium or magnesium. ... When
hard water and soap are mixed, the magnesium ion reacts with soap molecules and
forms a solid material called a precipitate, which does not dissolve. This precipitate
(soap scum) reduces the ability of the soap to make bubbles. This is the why the the
soaps do not work in dry water.