Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process

Front Cover
Clavicula Press, 2010 - Crafts & Hobbies - 412 pages
Until now, there were just two kinds of books on soapmaking. Books for the commodity soap industry emphasized the economical production of soap by the ton and were written for those with a background in chemistry and chemical engineering. Books for the emerging craft industry emphasized the production of high-quality soap by the pound and were aimed at those familiar with the format of cookbooks. Makers of handcrafted soap often wish they had paid more attention in chemistry class so that the information of the commodity soap books would be accessible to them. Scientific Soapmaking answers that call by bridging the gap between the technical and craft literatures. It explains the chemistry of fats, oils, and soaps, and it teaches sophisticated analytical techniques that can be carried out using equipment and materials familiar to makers of handcrafted soap. Presented in a college textbook format, Scientific Soapmaking guides students and individual soapmakers alike to formulate questions about soap and design experiments to answer those questions scientifically.
 

Contents

Experimental Soaps
1
Material
37
SingleOil Soaps
57
MultiOil
83
Scaling
93
Basic
123
Acids
139
9
163
Alkalinity
245
Quality Assurance
253
Value
267
Research and Development
277
20
287
The Water
293
Time to Trace
317
A Practice Problems
335

Fatty
175
Alcohols
191
Saponification
207
Soaps and Detergents
221
Quality Control
237
B Saponification Values
377
B1 Saturated Fats and Oils
380
References
398
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Kevin Dunn is the Elliott Professor of Chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College. He holds a BS degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. He appears on the Learning Channel's Mysteries of Magic and the History Channel's Modern Marvels. He lives in central Virginia with his wife and several cats.

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