I've been noticing Potassium Carbonate used in a lot of shaving soaps. I understand the role of Sodium and Potassium Hydroxide in the soap making process, but am not sure of what Potassium Carbonate.
This is a quote from an industrial soap making
"While the former is by far the most generally employed for making soap, other processes consist in saponifying the fats by some method other than caustic alkalis and then convert- ing the fatty acids into soap by either neutralizing them with sodium or potassium carbonate or hydrate. "
So am I to far off base by thinking that the carbonate is used to convert fatty acids (stearic acid etc) into it's final form in the soap?
If so is this done after the saponification occurs? I could see where this is done separately to not mess with the saponification calculations being done in regards to the base oils and sodium/potassium hydroxide.
This is a quote from an industrial soap making
"While the former is by far the most generally employed for making soap, other processes consist in saponifying the fats by some method other than caustic alkalis and then convert- ing the fatty acids into soap by either neutralizing them with sodium or potassium carbonate or hydrate. "
So am I to far off base by thinking that the carbonate is used to convert fatty acids (stearic acid etc) into it's final form in the soap?
If so is this done after the saponification occurs? I could see where this is done separately to not mess with the saponification calculations being done in regards to the base oils and sodium/potassium hydroxide.
