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Previous Next The best candle and soap tips online! MATERIALS USED TN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAPS. Ill AVOCADO Orr, is an oil obtained from the oleaginous fruit of theavocada jiear tree (Lauras pcrsia), a mitive of Trinidad. It is very similar to palm oil in its action with the alkaline bases, but has less coloring matter^ and forms a good soap without being bleached, but can be easily bleached to make a white soap. SUNFLOWER OIL. The oil from the seeds of the Jfelianthus annuus is a re-miirkably fine oil for the fiibrication of soaps. It is a light-colored, sweet-tasted oil, and we think deserves espDuial attention, for if it were cultivated it might form a profitable material for many other purposes besides soaps. The soaps made from it with soda lye have a fine appearance, remaining plastic, ami have the quality of retaining much water. COTTON-SEED OIL, now much naed in soaps and to adulterate more costly oils, Jits many properties that recommend it to the soap-maker, besides its usual low price, and we give it a somewhat extended notice. It is extracted from tlie seed of the cotton plants, (rossipium herba.fe.mn, G. arbormm, and other varieties. When deprived of their fibres the seeda are bruised, and heated np to from 75° to 883 C. {167° to 190.4° F.), and by pressure eighteen to twenty per cent, of oil is obtained, wliieh has u. dark-brown color. This oil bus in its crude state at 12.2° C. (54J F.) a specific gravity of 0.931, after being washed in a jet of steam of 1(J(P C. (212° F), 0.934 at 10° C. (50° F.). The raw cotton-seed oil smells and tastes, and ia otherwise, except, in color, similar to linseed oil, and it can be substituted for it for many purposes. The raw oil congeals at —2° to — S3 C. (28.4° to 26.6= F.), and is most excellently suited for furnishing hard and soft soaps. The po-called refined cotton-seed oil, tlie best quality of which is fully equal to the lower qualities of olive oil AS to smell and 112 TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AED CANDLES. taste, congeals between 2C nnd 0° C. (35,6° and 32° F.), and its specific gravity at 16° C. (60.8: F.) is 0.926 to 0.927. In large quantities the oil appears reddish, while in smaller quantities it is more or Iws of a dark dirty-yellow. If a few drops of cotton-seed oil are placed in a test glass and mixed with a solution of'chlorideof zinc, it will become dark brown, while rapeseed oil becomes golden yellow, and olive oil green ; pure sulphuric acid turns it instantly dark red-brown. Rape-seed oil treated in the same manner becomes green,and olive oil assume a light orange-yellow. Perch Wide of tin turns cotton-seed oil into a thick translucent mass of orange-red color, while rapeseed oil thus treated will become green, and olive oil greenish-blue, but neither of these two will thicken. Phosphoric acid colors cotton-peed oil under ebullition to a golden yellow ; rapeseed pil trented in the same way turns whitish-blue, olive oil bluish-green. By means of these reactions, it is easy to ascertain whether cotton-seed oil lias been used in adulterating rape-seed oil or olive oil. The better graces of cotton-peed oil are frequently mixed with expensive mis, and there are many firms in England and the United States wlio refine cottonseed oil, of which enormous quantities are sent to Italy, to serve in the adulteration of olive oil. The loss caused by the process of refining is between twelve and fifteen per cent. The modus operand} of this refining is at present not generally known. ? Although Pohl hail the following process for refining patented, yet it seema to us, that it cannot be rational. According to this process the seeds are crushed between iron rollers, mid pressed in iron presses, whereby a dark crude oil and an excellent oil cake are obtained, which latter is very useful for feeding cattle. 100 parts of the crude oil are mixed with 12 parts of a mixture which consists of a solution of potash of 4i° B., a solution of tartaric salts of 42- B., and milk of lime of 10° B. This solution is to be mixed with the heated, almost boiling oil, the entire mass stirred for a period of twn hours,ami then allowed to rest for twenty-four hours, when the oil will have lost its dark color and may be filtered. After filtration, and after the oil has MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP3. 113 been nearly drawn off, there still remains a residue with, some oil, which is boiled for two hours w.th ten percent, of strong salt water. The oil rises to the surface, and can, when the residue has become firm, after a little while be poured out, arid then applied in the usual way to make a good soap. (See formulas for these soaps.) CASTOR OIL. This oil is extracted from the seed of the shrub Rkinus communis, either by pressing in the cold way, or, as is frequently done in this country, by a slight roasting and crushing ol' the seeds and boiling in water, whereby the oil gathers on the surface, when it is skimmed off, and by heating is freed from water and afterwards filtered. If the seeds are at first pressed while cold, and afterwards moistened with alcohol, and pressed out a second time, about 30 per rent, more oil is obtained. This is a pale yellow, nearly odorless, and a very tlick liquid ; its specific gravity is 0.954. In the cold it congeals slowly. While fresh it is odorless ami of mild taste ; exposed to the air it soon becomes rancid ; liy shaking it with water and calcined magnesia this rancidity can be removed. In small portions it slowly dries when left exposed to the air. In the gaponirlcation ricimis oil furnishes three acids : 1st, the stearic riclnicacid, which melts at 74° U. (165.2° F.); 2d, ricinic acid, at 22° 0. (71.6° P.); and 3d, the acid of oil of rkinus, which melts somewhat bolov 0° O. (32J F.). Kicinus oil has the property, when saponified with soda, of famishing transparent soaps; but for this purpose the lye has to be entirely free from other salts or carbonic acid. It is particularly suitable for toilet soaps. Poppr-sEED OIL. Extracted by expression from the seeds of the Papavr som-niferum. When pure it resembles olive oil in its appesirnuce and taste. It is nearly colorless, or of a yellow color. Its specific gravity is 09249 at 15° C. (59° F.). It solidities a 114 TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AND CANDLES, at —17.7° C. (0° F.). The concrete oil sometimes retains this state at—2.2° C(i80 J1.)- It becomes rancid with difficulty. It ia soluble in 25 parts of cold, and 6 of boiling alcohol; it mixes in all proportions with ether. It is very siccative. It has nothing of the narcotic properties of the poppy. To effect its extraction, break the c;ipsules as BOOH as they have experienced a certain degree of desiccation. Separate the eeeds, and sift them &o as to get rid of the dirt; reduce them to a kind of flour, which is put into coarse cloth bags, and submitted io the action of the press. The oil is collected in earthen jars ami allowed to rest; then decanted and put into barrels. Before the introduction of sesame and earthnut oils into the fabrication of Marseilles soap, this oil was used in a certain proportion for the fabrication of marbled soap. The reason for such an addition was that olive oil alone gave too hard a soap ; an addition of from 10 to i.0 per cent, of black poppy oil attenuated the strong consistency of the soap and rendered it mort unctuous and soft, and it retained its water much longer. HEMPSEED OIL. Extracted from the seeds of the cultivated hemp, Cannafn's sstiva. The composition ot" bernpseed varies n little according to the specimen, as may be seen by the following analyses:—? 83.6 S3. 16.3 13 2.2 13.2 35.65 Oil ,8 \ 51- 1.1 ' Organic matter . Nitrogetiized maitei 7.39 5.65 100.00 Lignin Mineral substances "Water . 100.0 When fresh, hempseed oil in of a greenish-yellow color; it becomes yellow with time; its odor is disagreeable, and its taste sickly; Us density equals 0.9252 at 15.6° C, (60° F.). It thickens at —15°C. (5° F.) and concretes at —27.5C C. (17.5° below 0° I\). It is soluble in all proportions in boiling alcohol, but requitvs 30 per cent, of told alcohol to dissolve it. MATERIALS USED IN THE MAMJFACTUR3 OF SOAPS. 115 The process for obtaining it consists, the same as with all the other oils, in reducing the seeds to flour, submitting the latter to the action of the press, and purifying the oil obtained with sulphuric acid, or with caustic alkali. It ia used in the fabrication of soft soaps, of green soaps, especially when this fabrication is carried on in winter, because it can be submitted to n very intense cold without solidifying. It is also added to castile soaps to keep them softer. JSTUT OIL. Extracted from the walnut, fruit of the royal nut tree Juglms regia. The oil recently extracted is fluid, nearly colorless, with a faint odor,and a taste which is notdisagree-tslde. The oil of the second pressure is greenish, caustic, and siccative. The oil extracted from the unjieeled kernel has generally a greenish-yellow color. Its specific gravily at . . 12C C. (53.6° F.) = 0 9283 . 350 c. (77^ F.) = 0.SJ1U4 •* . . 94°C. (201.2° F.) = 0.8710 At —15° C. (5° F.) it thickens, and at —26.1° C. (15° below 0J K.) it takes the consistency of a white mass. The extraction of the oil must be made only two or three months after the fruit has been gathered. After separating tlic kernels and peeling them, they are crushed, so aa to form a paste, winch is put into bags and submitted to the action of titepress. The oil which runs first is called virgin oil,and is used as an aliment; the residium is moistened with boiling water, and is pressed anew ; this second oil is reserved for manufacturing purposes. Nats give about 50 to 60 per cent, of oil. Thia oil enters into the composition of green soaps ; it is employed also for lighting. BEECH-NUT OIL. Extracted from the fruit of the beech (Fagus si/lvaiica). This oil is of a light-yellow color, with a peculiar odor, a eL'kly tuste, thick and muddy when first extracted; it \$ 116 TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AND CANDLES. limpid, although ft little viscous, after a sufficient rest. Its specific gravity is 0.9225 at 15.5° C. (60° F.); at —XT C. (1.4° F.) it congeals into a yellowish-white mass. It may be kept a long time without alteration, and, unlike other oils, it improves by age. It forma with soda a soap firm enough, but which remains plastic. The kernels are reduced to a pulp, which is put into coarse cotton hags, and submitted to the action of the press; the resulting oil is stored in large jars, to allow it to deposit the mucous parts, mid the oil thus refined h ready for the market. This process generally gives from 15 to 20 per cent, of oil. OAMELINE OIL. A drying oil of a light-yellow color extracted from the seeds of the 31ytgrum sativum. It has a peculiar taste and odor, and is much employed on the continent of Europe in combinations for fabricating soft soapa, for which it is well adapted, as it tends to make them clearer. Its specific gravity ia 0.926; it congeals at 0c C. {32° F.). MUSTARD-SEED OIL. This oil, abundantly produced in making table mustard, is extracted from the seeds of the Sinapis nigra and Shuifri.-i alba, is a valuable oil for many purposed besides soaps. The white mustard yields about 36 per cent, of oil, the blade about half that quantity. The soup from this oil is of a superior quality. COLZA OIL, obtained from the seed of the Brussica campestris to the amount of nearly 40 per eeat. of its weight, is a very tine oil much used on the continent of Europe as a lamp oil. It makes an excellent soap with soda lye,. MATERIALS USED IS THE MAXUFACTUBE OP SOAPS. 117 HAZEL-NUT OIL, made from the nuts of the conjlus (Indiana, which are very rich in oil, yielding nearly 60 per cent., ia & very fire oil of a pale-yellow color, analogous to almond oil, for which it is often substituted in perfumery and pharmacy. It also makes a beautiful soap, though too oostlv for general use. LINSEED OIL is obtained, as is well known, from the seeds of the flax plant, lAnum usitalisshnum, by pressure and the aid of heat. These seeds furnish in their dry state from 25 to 30 per cent, of oil, which possesses a beautiful yellow color ami a peculiar smell. It is rather limpid, and even at a very iow temperature does not congeal. Beside the liquid gly-ceryl-oxide combination, it contains a small portion of pal-mitin. Exposed to the air, the oil dries to a tough mass, which when entirely dry is insoluble in ether or alcohol. The olein of linseed oil is the combination of oxide of glyceryl with a peculiar acid, which in many of its properties varies from the oleic acid of other fat substances. Tliis oil when exposed to the air very.easily changes, and absorbs oxygen rapidly. Oxidized oleic acid, if treated with alkalies, furnishes dark colored soap. Fresh linseed oil saponified with eoda makes a soft soap of a light-yellow color, of which, by adding culinary salt, solid sodti soap may bo obtained. It* this is exposed iu thin layers to the open air, it will become dry and yellow. After a few weeks it may be dissolved in water mixed with soda and salt. If this process be repeated, the liquid receives an almost black hue, a yellow soap will be the result, which in a great measure contains only palmitic acid, while the oleic acid has been destroyed; by decomposing with muriatic acid, a brown substance separates. OLEIC ACID, OLEIN, COMMERCIAL RED OIL. The oleic acid which is found iti commerce is obtained aa an auxiliary product in the fabrication of stearic audpalmitic its TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AND CASDLE3. acids for making stearin acid candles. As by this process the solid acids are never completely separated from the oleic acid, it contains more or less stearie acid or palmitic acid. Pure oleic acid is a liquid as clear as water, scentless, and tasteless, of an oily consistency, and does not redden litmus paper, either by itself or in alcoholic solution. It is not BoluMe in water, hut with alcohol and ether is easily mixed. At 4° C. (3.1.2° F.) it congeals into a white crystalline mass. By dry distillation it passes over bat little altered into the receiver, and it may be distilled by the steam bath without any decomposition. By mixing with hydrate of potassa, oleic acid is divided into palmitic and acetic acids; at the common temperature it absorbs a large amount of oxygen, but a much more rapid absorption takes place at 100° C. (212° K.), when the oleic acid assumes a yellow or brownish color,becomes rancid with acid reaction, and loses the power to congeal at a lower temperature. Nitric acid changes the oleic acid in a short time into elaidiu acid. The common oleic acid of commerce, which has suffered more or less from tlie changes caused by tlie influence of tlie air, is brownish-yellow or brown, rancid with acid reaction. It makes a difference, whether the uleie acid was obtained by saponifixation of the fat with lime and separation with sulphuric acid, or hy the process of the so-called acidy siipo-nincation and distillation. The latter is generally rejected by soap manufacturers for the production, of soda soaps, and is, therefore, much cheaper than that obtained by the process of sapmiificfition with lime in the fabrication of stearie acid. According to Stag, the natron soap, produced from distilled oleic acid, does not retain as much water as soau made with the oleic acid made hy the saponification of lime. According to Buff, the former possesses a sharp disagreeable smell, and its potash soap has not the property of becoming soluble in potash lye. This is the case, only when oleic acid lias been distilled at too high a temperature. It is to be questioned, whether a stream of steam and a temperature of 250° 0. (4H^° F.) are sufficient to volatilize the sebacic acids, which have already been separated by sulphuric MATERIALS USED IN THE MAHUPACTOKE OF SOAPS. 119 acid, viz.: whether stearie and palmitic acids do not require a higher degree of temperature, for their separation from the oleic acid and their volatilization, and furthermore, whether tlie oleic acid, separated by sulphuric acid from glycerine, has not been already so changed that it will act differently from that which has been obtained by the eaponification of lime. The soap manufacturer has, therefore, always cause to observe the difference in the two kinds of oleic acid, which are in commerce, and to direct hia attention to a possible adulteration of the oleic acid with the cheaper kind. The small quantities of sulphate, which will be formed, cannot be injurious to the soap, since the applied alkalies, as potash or soda, already contain large quantities of sulphate. In the fabrication of soap oleic acid serves principally in producing soft or potash soaps, especially the so-called elain soaps, for which equal equivalents of potash and soda with the necessary amount of oleic acid are boiled. But there is also a solid olein soap made, as will be described liereafter. Accurately speaking, caustic alkalies would not be required in order to change oleic acid into soap, since it combines easily with the carbonated alkalies. But i» fact there would bo very little gained by it, lor by the mixing of oleic acid with the solutions of carbonic acid alkalies there ensues such a strong ebullition of the m:i3s, owing to the escape of the carbonic acid, that the lye e-^u only be added in small portions. This is troublesome,- and takes much more time than if the alkalies are applied in the caustic state. Besides this, eoaps which are made with carbonate of soda always retain a spongy quality, which is not desirable to consumers. We have seen above, that oleic acid, when melted with hydrate of potash and moreover with an overplus of it, wilt be dissolved into palmitic and acetic acids. -According to theory there are thereby originated, from 100 parts of oleic acid, about 90 or 91 parts palmitic acid. Since the litter has almost the threefold value of oleic acid, while this by its change into palmitic acid loses only 10 per cent, of its weight, it would be of great advantage, if it could be changed in a cheap and easy manner into palmitic acid. Such an operation TECHNICAL TREATISE ON SOAP AND CANDLES. is proposed by Juernenian, who describes it in tlie following way : In the cover of a modern vat, several vessels of stone are so applied, that not only the cover upon the vat, but also the vessels, of stoneware fit tightly; on the bottom a serpentine pipe is fixed which conveys the steam. The oleic acid is now poured into the stoneware vessels and 10 per cent, of common nitric acid is added, then steam is admitted through the pipe into the vat (it is best to apply surcharged eteam) and the mixture is thereby heated to 100° C. (212° F.),then one per cent, finely powdered starch flour is gradually added ;an operation by which in the first place the formation of palmitic acid is intended, which, as we have already stated above, changes the oleic aoid into the solid elaidic acid, being isonierii; to it. A strong ebullition insues, the mass being stirred for about one hour, is kept at an equal ten]perature, then ladled over into another vat, and with sufficient water by means of steam, boiled out. Thus the oleic acid has become a light yellow mass, which melts at 45° C. (113° F.), i. e.y elaidie acid. It is then placed in a copper kettle, vvitL an equal weight of hydrate of lime added thereto. This kettle of copper is inserted in an iron kettle, from the sides of which it must hare a space of 5 centimetres (1.95 inches), the space between is to be filled with melted paraffine; into one of the kettles a thermometer is inserted, which for the security of its scale, is surrounded by a pipe made of copper. The hydrate of lime is made by sprinkling caustic lime with boiling lye of potash, whereby the lime is reduced to a fine powder, which must be used at once. Now, the outer kettle is to be heated, until the etaidic acid contained in tlie inner kettle lias reached a temperature of 220° to 230J C. (428D to 446J F.), which heat is to be retained, while constantly stirring with an iron ladle, for seven or eight hours. Tben a sample is ttsken out, in order to ascertain, by analysis with diluted sulphuric acid, whether all the fat has been changed into palmitic acid. As soon as this is the case, the fat is transferred into a suitable appara. tiis, for distilling, and distilled after adding the requisite quantity of sulphuric acid and a stream of surcharged steam. MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAPS. 121 That which passes over is pure palmitic acid, a firm, white mass, which melts at 62° 0. (143.6° F.), and can be applied to manufacture tlie so-called stearic acid candles of prime quality. This product, however, has not yet found practical application. Although soap manufacturers do not require the pure palmitic acid, they can make use of it, to mix it with a. suitable proportion of oleic acid (3 parts oleic sicid, 2 parts of palmitic iicid), thus reestablishing the original proportion of tlie liquid to the solid acid, and for obtaining a mixture of sebaeic acids, from which fine and solid soaps may be produced. "VEGETABLE TALLOW. By this name a fat, which is pressed out. of the seeds of Brindonia indica,\a known. Tlie seeds give 75 j*r cent, of l heir weight in fat of a grayish-white eolor,andof the consistency of common tallow, with which it has much similarity. This product can be purified and blenched by treating it with about one-half per cent, of concentrated sulphuric acid, previously diluted with water. After sufficient influence of the acid is bad, it is removed by washing it out. With soda vegetable tallow makes a hard, white, and odorless soap. It is thought that this article might be profitably used fur manufacturing soap. SHEA BUTTER OR GALAM BUTTER. A vegetable fat which has only recently been introduced into commerce. It is of the consistency of butter, and of a gray or greenish-white color, and is obtained from the dried and bruised seeds of Bosnia par/cii, by boiling them in water, and by skimming oft' tire rising fat. Its melting point varies from 23J, 24°, 29Q to 35G C. (73.4% 75.2°, S4.2° to 95= F.). Shea-butter furnishes a very hard and white soap, which lathers but little, but for its first mentioned peculiarity might be used with good results, to make solid soaps from weaker sorts of fat. 122 Previous Next
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