The Complete Technology Book on Soaps

Soaps are mainly used as surfactants for washing, bathing, and cleaning, but they are also used in textile spinning and are important components of lubricants. Soap is a mixture of sodium salts of various naturally occurring fatty acids. Air bubbles added to a molten soap will decrease the density of the soap and thus it will float on water. If the fatty acid salt has potassium rather than sodium, a softer lather is the result. Soap is produced by a saponification or basic hydrolysis reaction of a fat or oil. Currently, sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide is used to neutralize the fatty acid and convert it to the salt. The soaps industry is vivacious, varied, creative and tricky, and has the prospective to provide a gratifying career. Since these are basic requirements throughout the world undoubtedly the soap industry is one of the fastest growing and most profitable markets in international arena have been for the past many years. The experts based on the market analysis have predicted the soap industry to continue to grow in both the industrialized as well as developing nations. Apparently population growth, especially households with children has a proportional impact on the growth of the manufacturing sector of the industry. This means that rise in demand for soap production plants has been predicted in the clearest terms. Today the bar soap industry is thriving in much of the world, especially in the developing countries. There, toilet and laundry bar soaps are produced in large quantities, and many manufacturers exist beside the large multinational firms. In the rest of the world boutique soap manufacturers are producing elite bar soap for a select group of healthy conscious green consumers. Demand of foaming soap is increasing rapidly according to recent market research, something that is also spurning big developments in packaging solutions designed specifically for this purpose. This book majorly deals with characteristics of soap, saponification of fats, reaction making soap, technology of soap manufacturing, saponification of distilled fatty acids, construction materials for soap making plants, various formulations of soaps, soap perfumery, plant and machinery, project estimation & its reliability etc. Being consumable in daily life soap industry is profoundly lucrative with splendid market potential. This industry has very good future prospects. Many more new units are recommended to meet the requirement of Indians demand. The book covers formulae, processes of different type of washing and toilet soaps. It is very useful book for new entrepreneurs, technocrats and research laboratories, technical libraries and for those who wants to diversify into this field.