Preparation and characterization of soaps made from soya bean oil and neem oil blends

Abstract

This research work deals with the preparation of soaps from neem oil and soya bean oil blends and analyses the soap produced. The soaps were produced using cold process technique by varying the percentage of oils; (soya bean oil and neem oil) in the ratio of 100%, 90/10%, 80/20%, 70/30%, 60/40%, 50/50%, 40/60%, 30/70%, 20,80%, 90/10% and 100% to obtain soap samples A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K, respectively. The oils and a calculated amount of base at 3 ^oC – 43^oC was mixed to form soap and allowed to cure. The properties of the soap such as; pH values, total alkali,% fatty matter, moisture content and form height were analysed, and the values range from 7.9 – 9.0, 0.12 – 0.37g, 60 – 80%, 13 – 18.6 and 12.0 – 15.6cm were obtained, respectively. Sensitivity test was conducted for soap sample I (70% neem oil and 30% soya bean oil) using isolated bacteria; Escherichia coli, staphylococcus aureus and salmonella typhi against the control sample at varying concentrations. Generally, the performance of the soaps produced was found to be good.

Keywords: Neem oil, Soya bean oil, pH value, Sensitivity, Oil blends