Cleaning Agent from Natural Rubber Seed Oil (RSO) and Cassava Peels Ash Extract

Abstract

The most widely known cleansing agent today is soap. The production of soap using natural rubber seed oil (RSO) and alkali derived from cassava peels ash extract was determined. Prior to the production of soap, physico-chemical analysis of the RSO was determined. The alkali from the cassava peels ash extract was made to react with the RSO to produced the soap. The soap was analysed to determine it chemical composition and efficacy. The values for Foamability, Foam stability, Total fatty matter (TFM), Total free alkali (TFA), Free carbonate alkali, (FCA), Free caustic alkali (Fca) and P^H were found to be 321.10ml, 6.13hrs, 60%, 9.6%, 4.7%, 4.9%, and 10.6 respectively. The value from the produced soap analyses has revealed that the soap produced from locally sourced agro based waste has a quality very similar to any standard soap (Lux) which may be due to the crude nature of the soap and the presence of impurities. These impurities can be removed through purification of the ash alkali extract and the RSO. The result obtained from this study has revealed that soap produced using locally sourced materials from agricultural waste have the potential to compete favourably with any standard soap.

Keywords: Cassava peels, Cleaning agent, Rubber seed oil, Soap, Saponification