Soap-Making Manual
A practical handbook on the raw materials, their manipulation, analysisand control in the modern soap plant.
By
E. G. Thomssen, Ph. D.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY
Eight Warren Street
1922
Copyright 1922
By
D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
[Pg iii]
PREFATORY NOTE.
The material contained in this work appeared several years ago in serialform in the American Perfumer and Essential Oil Review. Owing to thenumerous requests received, it has been decided to now place beforethose interested, these articles in book form. While it is true that theworks pertaining to the soapmaking industry are reasonably plentiful,books are quite rare, however, which, in a brief volume, will clearlyoutline the processes employed together with the necessary methods ofanalyses from a purely practical standpoint. In the work presented theauthor has attempted to briefly, clearly, and fully explain themanufacture of soap in such language that it might be understood by allthose interested in this industry. In many cases the smaller plants findit necessary to dispense with the services of a chemist, so that it isnecessary for the soapmaker to make his own tests. The tests outlined,therefore, are given as simple as possible to meet this condition. Theformulae submitted are authentic, and in many cases are now being usedin soapmaking.
In taking up the industry for survey it has been thought desirable tofirst mention and describe the raw materials used; second, to outlinethe processes of manufacture; third, to classify the methods andillustrate by formulae the composition of various soaps together withtheir mode of manufacture; fourth, to enumerate the various methods ofglycerine recovery, including the processes of saponification, and,fifth, to give the most important analytical methods which are of valueto control[Pg iv] the process of manufacture and to determine the purity andfitness of the raw material entering into it.
It is not the intention of the author to go into great detail in thiswork, nor to outline to any great extent the theoretical side of thesubject, but rather to make the work as brief as possible, keeping thepractical side of the subject before him and not going into concisedescriptions of machinery as is very usual in works on this subject.Illustrations are merely added to show typical kinds of machinery used.
The author wishes to take this opportunity of thanking Messrs. L. S.Levy and E. W. Drew for the reading of proof, and Mr. C. W. Aiken of theHouchin-Aiken Co., for his aid in making the illustrations a success, aswell as others who have contributed in the compiling of the formulae forvarious soaps. He trusts that this work may prove of value to thoseengaged in soap manufacture.
E. G. T.
January, 1922
Transcriber's note: This is a series of articles collected into a book. There aredifferences in spelling and punctuation in the different chapters (e.g.cocoanut in one chapter and coconut in another). These differences wereleft in the text as they appeared.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.