Sodium palmate

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Sodium palmate is used as a base ingredient in soap making and cosmetics. Sodium palmate is a core ingredient in many types of soap and is made from palm oil.
It is often combined with sodium cocoate, coconut oil sodium salt and the sodium salt of animal fat, sodium tallow. Together these three are one the major constituents of modern soap base. Base soap is the pure soap that has had no additional ingredients like color and scent added to it yet.

As base soap ingredients the hardest formulas use a mix of all three (sodium palmate, sodium cocoate, sodium tallow) in various combinations.

Palm kernelate

Sodium palm kernelate is a product of the saponification of palm kernel oil with sodium hydroxide.[1]

Production

The process that produces sodium palmate is called saponification, during which palm oil, rendered from the coconut palm nut, is reacted with concentrated sodium hydroxide (in the form of caustic soda or lye) which triggers hydrolysis of the ester groups. This splits the ester groups in the oil into glycerol and sodium palmate salt.

Sodium palmate is permitted as a natural additive in organic products.[2]

References

^ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_sodium_palm_kernate
^ US Soil Association standard 50.5.3

This page was last modified on 8 November 2010 at 08:40.
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