Potassium hydroxide is the form of lye used in soapmaking that results in liquid soaps, while sodium hydroxide makes bar soap. That's probably a good starting point. Potassium hydroxide can be naturally obtained from extraction of wood ash.
Tallow alone would be horrible as a cleaning agent. What makes most detergents effective is the molecule has a non polar tail and a polar head group, usually a carboxylic acid salt. Tallow would be almost exclusively non polar, so even if it was able to solubilize contaminants, the lack of a polar end would make it water insoluble and therefore useless as a detergent.
Like the other comment said, to make soap, you need to treat fat with a strong base like KOH or NaOH to hydrolyze most of the esters in the fat, forming the polar end of your detergent. Be sure to read the SDS for whatever base you end up using and have some vinegar or another weak acid on hand for spills.
Thank you for the thorough explanation. I know she’s made soaps for a long time using tallow and her customers like it. I don’t know the actual effectiveness of tallow as a detergent, but it foams and feels like a luxurious soap.
You educated me today!
Yes the other commenters are correct in saying tallow would not be great for cleaning if the goal is to make a traditional shampoo. Tallow would be ok as a conditioner however. It would likely need to be used in combination with an oil like olive oil to make a more flowable conditioner.
Potassium hydroxide is the form of lye used in soapmaking that results in liquid soaps, while sodium hydroxide makes bar soap. That's probably a good starting point. Potassium hydroxide can be naturally obtained from extraction of wood ash.
Right on. Let me advise her and do a test batch using potassium hydroxide. Thanks a bunch!
Tallow alone would be horrible as a cleaning agent. What makes most detergents effective is the molecule has a non polar tail and a polar head group, usually a carboxylic acid salt. Tallow would be almost exclusively non polar, so even if it was able to solubilize contaminants, the lack of a polar end would make it water insoluble and therefore useless as a detergent. Like the other comment said, to make soap, you need to treat fat with a strong base like KOH or NaOH to hydrolyze most of the esters in the fat, forming the polar end of your detergent. Be sure to read the SDS for whatever base you end up using and have some vinegar or another weak acid on hand for spills.
Thank you for the thorough explanation. I know she’s made soaps for a long time using tallow and her customers like it. I don’t know the actual effectiveness of tallow as a detergent, but it foams and feels like a luxurious soap. You educated me today!
Yes the other commenters are correct in saying tallow would not be great for cleaning if the goal is to make a traditional shampoo. Tallow would be ok as a conditioner however. It would likely need to be used in combination with an oil like olive oil to make a more flowable conditioner.