INTRODUCTION

Soap is well known among all of us which us as the cleaning, washing, bathing and
other housekeeping purpose. In chemistry, soap is known as a salt of a fatty acid.
Fundamentally, the manufacturing of soap included treating vegetable or creature oils and fats
with a solid base, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide in a watery solution. Fats
and oils are composed of triglycerides; three atoms of greasy acids connect to a
single particle of glycerol. The soluble arrangement, which is frequently called lye (in spite of
the fact that the term "lye soap" alludes nearly solely to soaps made with sodium hydroxide),
brings around a chemical response known as saponification.

In this handle, the triglyceride fats to begin with hydrolyse into free greasy acids, and after
that these combine with the alkali to make unrefined soap: an amalgam
of different soap salts, overabundance fat or soluble base, water, and liberated glycerol
(glycerine). The glycerine, a valuable by-product, can stay within the soap item as a
softening operator, or be disconnected for other application.

When triglycerides in fat/oil react with aqueous sodium hydroxide, NaOH or potassium
hydroxide, KOH the reaction will produce soap and glycerol at 70 – 80oC in a procedure known
as saponification. The fats are hydrolysed by the base, yielding glycerol, and crude soap. In
this experiment, hot process was used to produce soap. The oils are melted in a water bath at
the temperature of 70 - 80oC until homogeneous.

As the soap has been produced, there are few considerations that must be taken to
measure the average quality of soap. The considerations that must be taken are pH value,
saponification value and moisture content. The pH value is determining the degree of acidity
or alkalinity of the soap. The average range for a good soap is around pH 5.5 -7.5. Then,
Saponification value is the number of mg of potassium hydroxide required to saponify 1g of
fat, to neutralise the free fatty acids and the fatty acids combined as glycerides. Next, the final
consideration is the moisture content in a soap. Basically, moisture content is the amount of
water left in the soap after being dried in the oven. The amount of moisture content should be
around 5 – 7% in order to produce a good quality soap.