CONTINUOUS NEUTRAL OILS AND FATS SAPONIFICATION
(NFOS and NFOS-W Saponification Plant)
Neutral fats and oils are used as feedstock, after refining and bleaching, to produce high quality soap. By using caustic lye (NaOH) as a reagent, a continuous saponification plant transforms oils and fats into soap and glycerine (glycerine is a by-product of saponification reaction). The glycerine can be recovered or it can remain in the soap. If the glycerine is recovered, a soap washing section is added (this kind of saponification is usually called FULL-BOILED SAPONIFICATION-NFOS-W plant); otherwise, if the glycerine remains in the soap, the soap is ready to be dried (this kind of saponification is usually called SEMI-BOILED SAPONIFICATION, NFOS plant).
FATTY ACIDS NEUTRALIZATION (FAS)
Distilled fatty acids are used as feedstock. By using caustic lye (NaOH) as a reagent, a FAS plant neutralizes fatty acids and produces soap of first quality. Fatty acids are produced in a splitting plant, where oils and fats are transformed into fatty acids and glycerine. To obtain soap of high quality, fatty acids must be purified in a distillation plant.
Flow-sheet of a semi-boiled saponification
Do You Know?
It is possible to upgrade in any moment a semi-boiled saponification into a full boiled saponification; likewise, a full boiled saponification can work as a semi-boiled saponification, using also blends of fatty acids and neutral fats/oils.
The most common vegetable oils used in this case are palm oil, palm stearine, palm kernel oil and coconut oil; the most common animal fat is beef tallow. An efficient and precise dosing system is used for raw materials, by means of displacement pumps and massflowmeters.
The produced glycerine is full of impurities and rich of water (spent lyes), and can be depurated (by removing the impurities), evaporated (up to 80% of glycerol), bleached and distilled (to obtain pharmaceutical/food grade glycerine).
Gianazza Engineering has years of experience in glycerine depuration, evaporation, bleaching and distillation.
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