Soap noodles are raw materials for soap bars and for washing powders. They can be adjusted to meet your demand; softer, harder, transparent, dissolvable noodles.

First it is necessary to roughly understand the ingredients of soap noodles:

o Palm oil (C16-C18; basis stearic acid)
o Palm kernel oil (C12-C14; basis lauric acid)
mostly in ratio 80 : 20
o Free fatty acids or free alkalines
o Moisture H2O
o Salt NaCl
o Glycerol; popular name: glycerin(e)

Softer noodles (acid):
Some think that adding more glycerol makes soap noodles softer and thus easier to extrude into any shape of soap bars. But it is not glycerol doing the trick. Glycerol is the medium, the solvent in which free fatty acids become mobile in the noodles. So although glycerol seemingly softens your soap, in fact the free fatty acids can travel with the glycerol and provide the required softness.
This means you should check the level of free fatty acids in your soap noodles; if they are limited or not present, adding of glycerol will have limited or no effect. In such case, fatty acids should be added first. The quantity depends on the pH.

Harder noodles (alkaline):
By the same token, avoiding glycerol seems to provide harder noodles. But it is the limited solubility of free fatty acids hardening the noodles. The hardest noodles are alkaline noodles; no free fatty acids.

Transparent noodles:
These are synthetic noodles consisting of, in diminishing sequence: sodium cocoate, sodium stearate, water, propylene glycol, sugar, sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), cocoamidopropyl betaine, glycerol, sodiumchloride, di sodium EDTA and BHT.

Dissolvable noodles:
As one knows from experience, soap gives a milky dispersion in water. Adding a little (0.6 – 0.8%) salt (NaCl) increases the ionisation power and thus the solubility of soap noodles in water at 30oC.

The Sirius Effect:
No REACH, Yes RSPO
As a natural substance, soap noodles do not require REACH certification (Regulation EC No 987/2008 Annexes IV, V). And there is anyway a better way to support the planet: RSPO; Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Established in 2004, this world wide organisation with its principle seat in Geneva watches over sustainability and fair trade of palm oil products, such as soap noodles. RSPO performs audits to guarantee that new palm trees are planted (and in the right farmland), not wasting lands on which food crops should grow for the local population. And that workers are treated in a fair and safe way. RSPO also checks members downstream in the supply chain, such as Sirius.

Sirius is a supporting member of RSPO. You will only receive sustainable palm oil products from Sirius.

In 2013 you can support our planet!

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+31(0)355485898 | info@siriusint.com | http://www.siriusint.com

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