Soap Testing to The American Oil Chemists’ Society
The American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS ) is an international professional scientific society for individuals and corporations interested in fats, oils, surfactants, detergents, and related materials.
Soap is made by combining fats or oils and an alkali, such as lye. The fats and oils, which may be from animal, vegetable, or mineral sources, are degraded into free fatty acids, which then combine with the alkali to form crude soap. The lye reacts with the oils, turning what starts out as liquid into blocks of soap. Hence, why it may be tested to AOCS methods, Section D, Soap and Synthetic Detergents (Section D)
In all, it publishes a list of 400 methods in the Official Methods and Recommended Practices of the AOCS. Its fats, oil, and lipid-related analytical methods are used by hundreds of laboratories. Major sections of the AOCS methods are:
- Vegetable oil source materials (Section A)
- Oilseed by-products (Section B)
- Commercial fats and oils (Section C)
- Soap and Synthetic Detergents (Section D)
- Glycerin (Section E)
- Sulfonated and Sulfated Oils (Section F)
- Soapstocks (Section G)
- Specifications for Reagents, and Solvents and Apparatus (Section H)
- Lecithin (Section J)
- Evaluation and Design of Test Methods (Section M)
- Official Listing (Section S)
- Recommended Practices for Testing Industrial Oils and Derivatives (Section T)
