Chemicals Present in

SOAP AND DETERGENT

 Answer the following questions:
1. How can you describe a clean home?
2. What are the benefits of maintaining a clean
home?
3. What is the purpose of soap and detergent in
your daily life?
4. What are your standards in choosing the cleaning
products to use in different household chores?
Brief History of Soap and
Detergent

The origins of personal cleanliness date back to

prehistoric times. Since water is essential for life,
the earliest people who lived near water knew
something about cleanliness – rinsed mud off
their hands.
Brief History of Soap and
Detergent

The origins of personal cleanliness date back

to prehistoric times. Since water is essential
for life, the earliest people who lived near
water knew something about cleanliness –
rinsed mud off their hands.
Brief History of Soap and
Detergent

An Egyptian medical document

describes combining animal and
vegetable oils with alkaline salts to
form soap-like material used to treat
skin diseases as well as for washing
Brief History of Soap and
Detergent
According to an Ancient Roman legend, soap
got its name from Mount Sapo, where animals
were sacrificed. Rain washed a mixture of
melted animal fat or tallow and wood ashes
into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women
found this clay mixture and did their washing
with much less effort.
 Brief History of Soap and
Detergent

By the second century, a Greek physician, Galen,

recommended soap for medicinal and cleansing purposes.

Soap making was an established craft in Europe in the 7th

century. Italy, Spain, and France were the early centers for soap
manufacturing due to their ready supply of raw materials such as
oils from olive trees.
 Brief History of Soap and
Detergent

Soap was a luxury enjoyed mainly by those who could afford it.
Manufactured bar soaps were not available until the late 18th
century in Europe and the U.S. Widespread use of soap during
this period can be attributed to advertising campaigns touting
the relationship between good personal hygiene and health
 Detergent

In 1791, Nicholas Leblanc patented making soda ash or sodium

carbonate from common salt. Soda ash is combined with fat to
form soap.

In the mid-1800s, Ernest Solvay invented another soap

technology, the ammonia process, to make soda ash out of
common table salt. This process further reduced the cost of
obtaining soda ash and increased its quantity and quality for soap
manufacturing.
 Detergent
In 1916, Germany created the first synthetic detergent.
It is in response to World War I soap ingredient
shortages. It encouraged manufacturers to develop
synthetic cleaners to meet demand.

By the 1950s, detergents had overtaken traditional

soap products in homes across America.
The Chemistry of Soap and Detergent
Soap and detergent are
They are used in
two of the most
laundering, dishwashing,
common cleaning
bathing, hand washing,
products used in a
and other types of
household.
cleaning.
As a consumer, it is a
must for you to It will serve as a guide
understand the for you to understand
chemistry behind these their performance,
commercial products. efficacy, and safety.
Differences Between Soap and Detergent
 Preparation of Soap
Ingredients:
a. Fatty acid from animal fats and vegetable oils
▪ source of the hydrocarbon chain – hydrophobic
(water-hating end) but attracted to grease and oils
▪ Carboxylate end – hydrophilic
(water-loving end)
 Preparation of Soap
Ingredients:
b. Alkali
▪ Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or caustic soda –
produces hard soaplike bath and bar soap
▪ Potassium hydroxide (KOH) or caustic potash –
produces soft soap like in liquid hand soap
Chemical Structure of Soap

Saponification involves heating plant oils

and animal fats, reacting them with a liquid
alkali to produce soap plus water plus
glycerine.
Chemical Structure of Soap
Another way of soap making is the hydrolysis
of oils and fats in high-pressure steam to yield
crude fatty acids and glycerine – purification of
fatty acids through distillation and
neutralization of fatty acids with alkali to form
soap and water.
Chemical Structure of Soap

Preparation of Detergent Ingredients:

a. Petrochemicals (derived from petroleum) and

oleochemical (derived from fats and oils – the source of
the hydrocarbon chain, the hydrophobic end of
detergent but attracted to grease and oils
Chemical Structure of Soap
Preparation of Detergent Ingredients:

b. Other chemicals like sulfur trioxide, sulfuric acid, or

ethylene oxide - the source of hydrophilic end of the
detergent

c. Alkali – sodium or potassium hydroxide

 Chemical Structure of Detergent
The chemicals like sulfur trioxide and sulfuric acid react with the
hydrocarbon from petrochemical or oleochemical. It produces a new
acid. The new acid then reacts with the alkali to produce the anionic
surfactant molecule
Chemical Structure of Detergent
Another way to produce detergent is when the hydrocarbon chain
is converted to fatty alcohol and then reacts with ethylene oxide.
It produces a nonionic surfactant. This nonionic surfactant can
further react to sulfur containing acids to form the anionic
surfactant, the active ingredient of detergents
 How Soap and Detergent
Works

Three types of energy are needed for a good

result of cleaning using soap and detergent:

a. Chemical energy – is provided by the soap and

detergent. The hydrophilic end (water-loving) mixed up
the water, and the hydrophobic end (water-hating)
removes the soil’s grease and oils.
 How Soap and Detergent
Works
Three types of energy are needed for a good result of
cleaning using soap and detergent:

b. Thermal energy – change in water temperature.

Warm water or hot temperature helps to dissolve the
grease and oil of the soil.
c. Mechanical energy – Machine, hand rubbing, and
another way of agitation help pull the soil free.
Surface Tension

● Property of water

● The tension is created as the water

molecules at the surface are pulled into the
body of water.

● It slows down the wetting of the surface

and inhibits the cleaning process.
 Surfactant
Also called surface-active agents
● Chemicals change the properties of water by
lowering the surface tension
● Enables the cleaning solution to wet a surface more
quickly so the soil can easily be loosened or
removed
● Emulsifies the oily soils and keeps them dispersed
and suspended
CLASSIFICATION OF SURFACTANTS
CLASSIFICATION OF SURFACTANTS
Builders
● Enhance the cleaning effectiveness of

surfactants
● Reduce water hardness (possible formation
of scum or film)
● Supply and maintain alkalinity
Builders
● It is done either by:
Sequestration or chelation – holding hard materials in
the solution
◦ Examples: complex phosphates and sodium citrate

 Precipitation – forming an insoluble substance

◦ Examples: sodium carbonate and sodium silicate

Ion exchange – trading electrically charged particles

Example: sodium aluminosilicate (zeolite)
Builders

Sequestration Precipitation Ion Exchange

Builders

Sequestration Precipitation Ion Exchange