Recovery of Glycerol from Spent Soap LyeBy - Product of Soap Manufacture

• Main Authors: A. U. Israel, I. B. Obot, J. E. Asuquo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2008-01-01
• Series: E-Journal of Chemistry
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2008/302609

Three samples of spent lye from soap manufacturing companies namely Paterson Zochonis Industries (PZ), International Equitable Association (IEA), Kitchen Soap Industries (KSI) all in Aba, Abia State of Nigeria and one laboratory simulated sample (SSL) were analyzed for the amount of glycerol and residual salts. The amount of glycerol in all the samples increases in the order bleached glycerin > crude glycerin > semi-crude glycerin > treated lye > spent soap lye while the reverse is the order for the amount of residual salts. For the SSL, PZ, IEA and KSL samples, the percentage of recovered glycerol were 91.00, 83.20, 82.80 and 81.40 while the residual salt content (%) were 9.80, 6.00, 7.08 and 8.03 respectively. These values compare well with international standards. The results show that the amount of the recovered glycerin and residual salts depend on the quality of the spent lye and the technology employed in the recovery treatment used.