Abstract:
Soap is the sodium salts or potassium salts of stearic acids or any other fatty acids. It is prepared by saponification process (cold process method), which is, reacting the oil or fat which contain triglycerides with caustic soda (NaOH) to give the soap. However different oils have different composition of fatty acids which are responsible for different properties of soaps made out of them. The objective of this thesis is to study the production, characterization and feasibility study of bar soap from aloe Vera leaf gel and animal tallow oil. These raw material have contain important fatty acids involved in soap making which contribute to the detergency properties, cleaning power, foam ability and washing properties of the soaps. In the present work, aloe Vera leaf gel and animal tallow oil are blended in various ratios with olive, coconut and palm oil to prepare 12 different samples of bar soap. The moisture content, PH value, total fatty matter, foam ability, cleansing power and free caustic alkaline of these samples were analyzed. From the experiments good quality soap was obtained at the following ingredient recipes:60% tallow oil, 15% aloe Vera leaf gel, 10 % olive oil and 15% coconut oil with corresponding quality parameters of; PH value 9.75, moisture content 14.85%, total fatty matter 76.8%, free caustic alkaline 0.08%, foam ability 7.3 cm and very good cleansing power. The feasibility of production of bar soap from Aloe Vera gel and animal tallow oil was studied with the plant capacity 1500 tons per year. The total investment cost and the net profit were 28.5 million and 4.34 million birr respectively. The project is feasible that returns the investment cost in the rate of 15% within payback period of 3.58 years.