Soap-Making Manual: A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant.Thomssen, Edgar George
Science
Soap-Making Manual: A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant.
Thomssen, Edgar George
Soap
About five tons of tallow and one ton of cocoanut oil are pumped or run
into the soap kettle and brought to a boil with wet steam until it
briskly comes through the hot fat. The caustic soda (strengthening lyes
from former boilings may be used here) is gradually added by the
distributing pipe, any tendency to thicken being checked by the
introduction of small quantities of brine ("salt pickle"). If the lye is
added too rapidly the soap assumes a granular appearance, indicating
that the addition of same must be discontinued. Water should then be
added and the mass boiled through until it again closes. When the
addition of the proper amount of caustic soda is nearing its completion
the soap gradually thins. The steam is now cut down to about one turn of
the valve, and brine is rapidly added or salt shoveled in. In ten to
fifteen minutes the steam again breaks through and, from the appearance
of the soap, it can be seen whether sufficient brine has been added. A
sample taken out by means of a long wooden paddle should show the soap
in fine grains with the lyes running from it clear. The steam is then
shut off and the soap allowed to settle from one and one-half to two
hours. In all settlings the longer time this operation is permitted to
continue, the better will the subsequent operations proceed.
The mixture now consists of a partly saponified layer of fat above the
spent lyes. The lyes are drawn off until soap makes its appearance at
the exit pipe. The valve is then closed and the soap blown back into the
kettle by steam. The lyes thus obtained are known as _spent lyes_, from
which the glycerine is recovered. They should show an alkalinity of
approximately 0.5 per cent. if the operation is carefully carried out.
The remaining tallow is now added and the above operations repeated.
After the spent lyes have been drawn off, the soap is closed with water
and the proper percentage of rosin soap previously formed, or rosin
itself is added to the mass in the kettle. More lye is then allowed to
flow in until the mixture is up to "strength." This is usually tested
by the "bite" on the tongue of a small cooled sample. After boiling
until the steam comes through, the mass is grained with salt as before
and allowed to settle one and one-half to three hours. These lyes, known
as _strengthening lyes_ are run to storage to be used subsequently with
fresh fat to take up the caustic soda contained therein.
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