Industrial Training Seminar on
“Manufacture of Soaps”
Presented by
Dilip Kumar K
1SI12CH022
At Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited
Department of Chemical Engineering
Siddaganga Institute of Technology,
Tumakuru
Company profile
'Mysore Sandal Soap is a brand of soap manufactured by the
Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), a company owned
by the Government of Karnataka in India. This soap has been
manufactured since 1916 when Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king
of Mysore set up the Government Soap Factory in Bangalore.
The main motivation for setting up the factory was the excessive
sandalwood reserves that the Mysore Kingdom had which could not
be exported to Europe because of the First World War
In 1980, KSDL was incorporated as a company by merging the
Government Soap Factory with the sandal oil factories at Shimoga
and Mysore.
Products of the Company
TOILET SOAPS
KSDL offers a variety of Toilet Soaps of different fragrances. They create lather and
last for long. All the Soaps are purely environmental friendly as they are made from
pure vegetable ingredients
Following are the fragrances that KSDL
offers :-
• Mysore Sandal Soap
• Mysore Sandal Classic Soap
• Mysore Sandal Rose Soap
• Mysore Sandal Baby Soap
• Mysore Sandal Gold Soap
• Mysore Sandal Herbal care
INCENSE STICKS
KSDL offers a quality Incense Sticks
that Apart from spreading Fragrance
delivers peace and tranquility.
TALCUM POWDER
KSDL offers Talcum Powders that are
refreshing and gives a cooling
effect.The fragrance last for long
The categories available are :-
Mysore Sandal Talc
Mysore Sandal Baby Talc
DETERGENTS
Based on quality, safety and
performance, KSDL offers
detergents that apart from
whitening the cloth, provides a
mild and soothing fragrance to
it.
They are available in :-
Mysore Detergent Powder
Mysore Detergent Cake
SOAP
• Soap is a salt of a fatty acid.
• Used as surfactants for washing, bathing, and cleaning,
• Soaps for cleansing are obtained by treating vegetable or animal oils
and fats with a strongly alkaline solution.
• Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides; three molecules of fatty
acids attach to a single molecule of glycerol.The alkaline solution,
which is often called lye (although the term "lye soap" refers almost
exclusively to soaps made with sodium hydroxide), brings about a
chemical reaction known as saponification.
MECHANISM OF CLEANSING
SOAPS
When used for cleaning, soap allows insoluble particles to
become soluble in water, so they can then be rinsed away.
The insoluble oil/fat molecules become associated inside micelles,
tiny spheres formed from soap molecules with polar hydrophilic
(water-attracting) groups on the outside and encasing a lipophilic
(fat-attracting) pocket, which shields the oil/fat molecules from
the water making it soluble.
Anything that is soluble will be washed away with the water.
RAW MATERIALS FOR SOAP INDUSTRY
1. Fatty Materials:
The fats and oils used in soap making come from animal or plant
source. Any fat or oil can be used for soap making. A judicious
selection of fatty materials is made for soap making
Oils and fats used in soap industry are classified as
1) nut oils such as coconut,palm kernel
2) soft oils such as groundnut,cottonseed, olive etc
3) Hard fats, such as sheep, horse
2) ALKALI:
3) COMMON SALT
4) PERFUMES
5) ADDITIVES
SOAP MAKING PROCESS
A number of methods may be employed to make soap, but all are
based on the same principle of operation that is reacting fats or
oils with alkali to give neat soap.
for large scale purposes kettle process or by Continuous
hydrolysed process.
for handmade soaps either cold process or Semi - Boiled Process
A. THE KETTLE PROCESS
The Kettle Process is the oldest process known for the
manufacture of soap.
This process takes form four to eleven days to complete,
The quality of each batch is inconsistent
The various steps are :
Boiling :
Fats and alkali are melted in a kettle, which is a steel tank about 3
floors high and with steam coils in the bottom for heating. These
kettles are large enough to handle several tons of material. Steam
coils within the kettle heat the batch and bring it to a boil. After
boiling, the mass thickens as the fat reacts with the alkali,
producing soap and glycerin.
Saponification Reaction
C3H5(COOR)3 + 3 NaOH ——> 3 RCOO-Na+ + C3H5(OH)3
Where R is a fatty acid containing chains of 12 to 18 carbon atoms.
after cooling for several days, salt is added, causing the mixture to separate into two layers
with the “neat” soap on top and spent lye and water on the bottom.
Salting :
The soap and glycerin must now be separated. The mixture is treated with salt, causing the
soap to rise tot he top and the glycerin to settle to the bottom. The glycerin is removed from the
bottom of the kettle.
Strong change:
To remove the small amounts of fat that have not saponified , a strong caustic solution is
added to the kettle. This step in the process is called “strong change”. The mass is brought to
a boil again , and the last of the fat turns to soap. The batch may be given another salt
treatment at this time, or the manufacturer may proceed to the next step.
Pitching:
The next step is called “pitching”. The soap in the kettle is
boiled again with added water. The mass eventually separates
into two layers. The top layer is called “neat soap”, which is
about 70% soap and 30% water. The lower layer, called ‘nigre’
contains most of the impurities in the soap such as dirt and
salt, as well as most of the water. The neat soap is taken off
the top. The soap is then cooled.
manufacture of soaps at ksdl
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The entire manufacturing process consists of following
sequence of operations:
1) blending of fatty acids.
2) Neutralisation of fatty Acids in Kettle Boiler Section.
3) Drying of Neat Soap in Soap Drying plant.
4) Finishing of Soap in Finishing lines.
RAW MATERIALS REQUIRED
Palm oil, Palm Kernel Oil,
NaOH, water, Brine Solution
BLENDING OF FATTY ACIDS
Any single oil or fat wont be enough to satisfy the complex
technical specifications for a particular soap production.
This problem is overcomes by blending, two or more oils
and fats
Palm and plan kernel oil are directly imported from malaysia
and these are stored in tanks
The oils in the ration of 70% palm & 30% palm kernel oil are
added to the tank through a pump. the acid is mixed for
2hrs and around 65-60 oC by applying coil steam. The fatty
acid pumping line to kettle is first flushed with steam & then
the fatty acid mixture is pumped to the kettle.
NEUTRALISATION OF FATTY ACID IN KETTLE BOILER
SECTION
At, KSDL, Fatty acidneutralization is done through a batch
process. The fatty acid is neutralised with NaOH to produce the
neat soap. The process is exothermic and the temperature is
around 140 oC .
The Neutralisation process is carried out in large open top tanks
called “Kettle”. In KS&DL, The kettle (MS) has a capacity of 75
tons . if a fresh batch is made 20 tons is used.
Capacity of Plant is 26,000 Metric Tones/annum.
A typical Batch proceeds as follows:
1. Required quantities of NaOH, Brine & water are pumped from
the storage tanks to the day tanks for charging.
2. half spent lye & nitre remaining from previous batches are added
to the kettle.
3. A precise amount of fatty acid mixture is piped front he storage
tank . The kettle is first flushed with steam to clear any blocked
pipelines.
4. A sample of Crude Fatty Acid mixture in the kettle is sent to
Quality Assurance Department(QAD) in order to determine the
saponification value of this mixture.
5. According to Stoichiometry,amount of caustic soda required for
saponification is determined and is added from the storage tank
to the kettle.
6. The mass containing all the materials is brought to boil by the
injection of steam through a central nozzle & through a series of
steam coils within the kettle. The steam pressure is maintained
at 4-7kg/cm2.
7. The saponification reaction takes place, the mass gradually
thickens or emulsifies as the caustic soda reacts with the fatty
acids to produce both soap and water.
8. Boiling is continued for about 2 hrs.
9. The steam to kettle coils is stoppers and the saponified mixture
is allowed to settle into phases for about 4-6hrs . The upper
phase is called curd soap and the lower phase is called High
Spent Lye. The Lye is removed form the kettle.
10.This lye is recycled into future kettles in such a way that the Lye
generated forma he previous batch is used during the loading of
a subsequent kettle.
11.The fitting operation is carried out by spraying Brine and a
homogenous layer of soap is formed.
12.The free alkali content of this homogenous layer is analysed.It
should be less than 0.3%. If the concentration is found out to be
more, it is altered by addition of more fatty acid.
13.the homogenous layer formed is allowed for settling for more
than 24 hrs. The bottom part is called “Nigre” contains most of
the salts and dirt.
14.A sample is sent for testing.
15.the nigre is Separated from neat soap and the line is flushed with
steam.
16.The soap needs to be dried before it is made into bars
WATER TREATMENT PLANT AT KS&DL
HCl or NaOH Alum
Collection
Mixing Primary Aeration
tank Sump Flocculator
clarifier tank
channel
Coagulation Sedimentation
Secondary
CLARIFIER
Drying Sludge
Digester
beds pit
THANK YOU !
