This document discusses formulation building blocks for soaps and syndet bars. It defines soaps as sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids made from natural raw materials, while syndets are cleansing bars containing less than 10% soap that are often marketed as "soap free." The document compares the advantages and disadvantages of soaps and syndets, describes common raw materials used in each including fats, oils, and alkalis, and provides typical ingredient ranges. It also outlines the cold, semi-boiled, and full boiled manufacturing processes and parameters for evaluating performance.

1. Formulation Building
Blocks.
Soaps and Syndet Bars
Presented by :Bhagyashree Waykar
Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals
DYPIPSR

2. Content
 Definition
 Soap v/s Syndet
 Syndet: Advantage & disadvantages
 Soap : Advantage & disadvantages
 Raw material used
 Ingredients and its role
 Manufacturing process
 Evaluation
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3. Soap and Syndet Bars.
 Soaps are Sodium / Potassium salts of a fatty acid and is made from natural
raw materials. It is the oldest cleansing agent still in use today. For centuries,
it was the only known surfactant. Although synthetic detergents have
replaced soap in many application product categories, it has largely retained
its importance for skin cleansing.
 Popularity of Soaps is due to the fact that
• It is relatively milder to skin
• Is inexpensive.
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4. Syndet Bars.
 The word “syndet” is derived from “synthetic” combined with “detergent”.
Technically it refers to the binding that occurs between different detergents,
also called surfactants or tensioactive agents .Syndet soap surfactants are
derived from oils, fats, or petroleum products that are processed in a wide
range of chemical processes other than traditional saponification.
 By definition, Syndet bars are cleansing bars that contain less than 10% soap
 Syndet bars are often marketed as “cleansing bars” or “dermatological bars”
companies will use the term “soap free” or “soaps without soap.” this can
cause confusion although in a sense are correct
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5. Soap vs. Syndet
Soap
 Economical
 Vegetable Based
 Natural
 Organic
 Great Processing
 Oil Benefits
 High Glycerine
 Skin Additives – Shea, Cocoa
 High pH
 Drying on the Skin
 Poor Colour
Syndet
 High Foam
 Low Colour
 Wider range of additives (usually affected
by pH environment)
 pH Neutral
 Less Irritation
 Synthetic / Chemical
 Processing Challenges
 Expensive
5

6. Syndet Bars.
Advantages.
1. Syndet bars perform well in hard
water without formation of lime
soap.
2. The pH is close to neutral or
comparable to the pH of human
skin.
3. Many of the surfactants used in
synthetic bars are relatively milder
than normal or traditional soap.
4. It can be used by individuals
having soap sensitive skin.
Disadvantages.
1. They lack lubricity.
2. They are more slippery.
3. They get easily become slimy.
4. Syndet bars do not have the
familiar feel of soap, which make
consumer acceptance problematic
and very difficult.
5. They are not very popular as Toilet
Soaps.
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7. Soap.
Advantages
1. Soaps are antibacterial, they can
help kill germs.
2. Mild soaps can wash off the
corrosive acids that drop on your skin
and neutralize it.
3. Soaps are used for bathing, cleaning,
and washing.
4. It helps keep skin clean.
5. They also remove dirt, oil, makeup
and other impurities on skin.
Disadvantage.
1. Its alkaline nature (high pH)
2. Lime soap formation. Soap loses
its effectiveness in hard water that
contain Calcium and Magnesium
ions to form curd, leaving its
undesirable deposits in wash
basins, bath tubs, etc
3. In some sensitive individuals,
soap can also exhibit irritant
properties.
4. Irritation in some individuals may
also occur when using alkali free,
super fatted soaps that have extra
fatty acids dosed as additives
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8. Raw Material.
 FATS AND OILS
 ALKALIS
ADDITIVES USED
 Antioxidants
 Whiteners
 Perfumes
 Surfactants
 Fragrance
 Emollients
 Anti-bacterial
 Opacifying agents
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9. Raw Material (cont…)
 Fats and oils
The typical ratio is 80:20 with Palm (Hard 80) and Palm Kernel (Soft 20)
We excel at adjusting and manipulating these ratios, creating speciality
soap bases with innovative speciality oils and additives. We can use a
vast array of oils in our soap manufacture, however, most suppliers will
use a standard range of oils as seen below:
 Vegetable Oils
 Palm Oil
 Palm Kernel Oil
 Coconut Oil
 Olive Oil
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10. Fats and Oils (cont…)
 Fat mixture containing saturated and unsaturated and long and short chain
fatty acid in satiable proportion are used .Saturated fatty acids with 12 to 18
carbon atoms are used .
 Eg. lauric, myristic ,palmitic, stearic and oleic acid
 In the United States of America and Europe tallow has long been used as a
basic ingredient of soap. To improve the solubility and lathering properties
coconut oil is mixed with tallow.
 Fish oils, palm oil and coconut oil are also used in preparation of soaps.
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11. Raw Material (cont…)
Alkalis
 Caustic soda is used as a raw material in the preparation of soap.
 Caustic potash is used in making soft soaps
 Potassium carbonate and soda ash are used to saponify fatty acids
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12. Raw Material (cont…)
 Antioxidants: These are used to stabilize the soap against rancidity. Eg. sodium
silicate, sodium hyposulphite, sodium thiosulphate
 Whiteners and opacifying: Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used to improve
whiteness.
 Perfumes :The pH of the soap is around 10.0.The selected perfume should be
stable in this PH range
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13. General Requirements.
Composition / Ingredients Range (in percentage)
Surfactants 30-70
Plasticizer/Binder/Emollient 20-50
Lather enhancer 0-5
Filler 5-30
Water 5-12
Fragrance 0-1.5
Mildness Enhancer 0-5
Opacifiying Agents 0-0.3
Antibacterial/Deodorant Agents 0-2
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14. Surfactant
 Primarily responsible for cleansing and lathering.
 Non-ionic and amphoteric seldomly used.
Eg.:-Alkyl polyglucosidase
Fatty alcohols,
Alkyl phosphate esters,
Methyl glucose ester,
Glycerin monosterate
Alkyl betaines,
Polyhydroxy fatty acid amides
Polyalkylene glycols
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15. Plasticizer and Binder.
 For good processability and using properties.
 Plasticizer facilitate better extrusion and stamping of syndet bars.
 Also, act by lowering the viscosity of the material at mfg. temp , providing
flow under pressure
 Eg.: long chain fatty acids ( greater than C-16)
polyol esters
glycerol monosterate
sorbitan sterate,
glycol disterate
 Binder –Prevents separation of macroscopic aggregates,
-Anti-craking behavior.
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16. Fillers.
 Cheaper ingredients used to reduce the bar cost.
 In case of syndates-fillers are not inert ingredients but participate in
improving the internal structure and hardness
 Eg.: Dextrin, starch,modified starch( degraded ethoxylated)
 Disadvantage of fillers-1) Rough surface texture
2) loss of slip
3)loss of attarctivness.
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17. Mildness Enhancer/ Moisturizers
occlusive
Purpose-deposit on skin, reduce
rate of evaporation.
TYPE OF RAW MATERIAL
Long chain fatty acids(25%
moisture creams),mineral oil,
ethoxylated ether of lanolin,
propoxylated ether of lanolin,
methyl glucose, vegetable oil
etc.
Non-occlusive
Purpose-Hygroscopic
substance to stratum
corneum, retaining water,
improve lubricity.
TYPE OF RAW MATERIAL
Glycerin, propylene glycol,
polyols, sorbitol, lactic acid,
carboxylic acid, myristyl,
isodecyl sodiun capryl lactate,
proteins,linolenic acid, aloe
vera gel ,myristic acid,
acetamide, isosteric acid etc
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18. Combi-bar
 A Combi-bar is a combination of a traditional soap base with a Syndet
surfactant composition
 Have the properties of both a soap and Syndet.
 It has the familiar soapy feels as well as improved lather characteristics
 It also has lime soap dispersing properties
 The pH of a Comb-bar is relatively higher and is closer to soap away for the
neutral or low pH of pure synthetic detergent bars.
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19. Manufacturing Process.
 The production of these Syndets often requires special finishing equipment's.
 It also entails difficult and time consuming production procedures, making
the process expensive.
 The price to produce Syndet bars is minimally three to four times higher than
that of traditional or normal Soap.
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20. COLD PROCESS.
 In this process, mixing of fat and strong alkali is carried out substantially at
room temperature so that little more than emulsification takes place
Saponification is completed after this mixture is run into frames in several
days at warm temperature. since there is no opportunity to adjust
proportions of fat and alkali calculation of quantities to be used should be
made carefully.
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21. Semi-Boiled Process.
 The semi-boiled process differs from the cold process in the fact that the
saponification mixture is heated to 70 - 90° C using a steam-heated coil to
accelerate and complete the saponification reaction. Dyes, perfumes, and
additives are added at the end of the process to prevent them from
evaporating. The process allows the quantity of soda undergoing
saponification to be adjusted before the crude soap is drawn off. It also
allows manufacturing waste to be recycled, better incorporation of the
additives and a wider choice of raw materials.
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22. fig: Semi-Boiled Process.
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23. Full Boiled Process/Kettle Process.
In this process ,large cylindrical kettles with cone bottoms equipped with open and sometimes with
closed coils for steam are used. The kettles are often provided with delivery pipes for fats,water,lye
 Process includes:
Saponification reaction
Graining out and washing
Strong change
Finishing or fitting operation
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24. Full boiled(cont…)
Step 1:Saponification process
Fats and alkali are melted in a kettle, which is a steel tank that can stand three
stories high and hold several thousand pounds 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 glycerine.
Step 2 :Graining out and Washing
The soap and glycerin must now be separated. The mixture is treated with salt,
causing the soap to rise to the top and the glycerine to settle to the bottom. The
glycerine is extracted from the bottom of the kettle.
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25. Full boiled (cont.…)
Step 3: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.
Step 4:finishing or fitting operation
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. In finishing process the
soap may be poured into molds and allowed to harden into a large slab. It may also be
cooled in a special freezer. The slab is cut into smaller pieces of bar size, which are
then stamped and wrapped. The entire continuous process, from splitting to finishing,
can be accomplished in several hours.
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26. FIG: Fully Boiled Process 26

27. Saponification
These processes are used when the production is on very large scale .Fats are
first converted into fatty acids and glycerin using high pressure in continuous fat
splitting process. Some elements of continuous processes such as counter-current
washing or centrifuge separation can be applied to batch processes, to
accelerate the production cycles.
Continuous processes offer a speedy production cycle (a few hours), a saving of
space and energy, and a reduction in loss and in requirements for skilled labour.
Generally speaking, however, they are cost-effective only at production rates of
1 t/h or more (> 6,000 t/year), which necessitates a considerable initial
investment. Furthermore, they require a high level of expertise in industrial and
commercial management.
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28. Evaluation
Performance Evaluation Parameters are:-
 Lathering (Amount ,stability, quality, density , speed of formation)
 Mushiness/smearing/sloughing
 Hardness
 Rinsability(from skin and bathtub)
 Physical stability (wet and dry cracking)
 Chemical stability (odour, colour, efflorescence)
 Skin feel (during and after rinsing/drying)
 Lather feel during washing
 Mildness / dermatological compatibility
 Process ability
 Cleansing efficiency
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