QUARTER 3 – MODULE

2: CHEMICALS
PRESENT IN SOAP
AND DETERGENT
After going through this module, you are
expected to:
1. trace the development and improvement of
soap and detergent through time
2. compare the properties and chemical
composition of soap and detergent
3. explain how soap and detergent works
4. appreciate the importance of soap and
detergent maintaining cleanliness at
your body and at home
5. create a poster that promotes the role of
soap and detergent in preventing
the spread of communicable diseases.
LESSON 1 CHEMICALS
PRESENT IN SOAP AND
DETERGENT
 A clean home is like lying on your safest cradle. It
is always welcoming to come to a clean house with
healthy members.
Regular house cleaning can give lists of benefits for the
whole family, like killing microorganisms that may cause
sickness to everyone in the house. It can also improve
the quality of indoor air; maintain stress-free and
healthy hygiene. However, it takes much effort to
maintain and keep your house clean.
While it is essential to keep your home clean to
provide a healthy environment for your family,
commercially available cleaning product labels display
complex chemical terms, and advertisements boost their
performance in consumers’ eyes. Therefore, to make an
informed decision when comparing product performance,
1. How can you describe a clean home?
2. What are the benefits of maintaining a
clean home?
3. What is the purpose of soap and
detergent in your daily life?
4. What are your standards in choosing
the cleaning products to use in different
household chores?
5. Why it is crucial for consumers to know
the chemical ingredients of different
cleaning products?
 Brief History of Soap and Detergent

The origins of personal cleanliness

date back to prehistoric times. Since
water is essential for life, the earliest
people who lived near water knew
something about cleanliness – rinsed mud
off their hands. A soap-like material was
found in a clay cylinder in ancient Babylon
is evidence that soap-making was known
as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions in the
 An Egyptian medical document
describes combining animal and vegetable
oils with alkaline salts to form soap-like
material used to treat skin diseases as well
as for washing.
According to an Ancient Roman
legend, soap got its name from Mount
Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. Rain
washed a mixture of melted animal fat or
tallow and wood ashes into the clay soil
along the Tiber River. Women found this
clay mixture and did their washing with
 By the second century, a Greek physician,
Galen, recommended soap for medicinal and
cleansing purposes. Soap making was an
established craft in Europe in the 7th century.
Italy, Spain, and France were the early centers
for soap manufacturing. Egyptians used soap-
like material to treat skin diseases due to their
ready supply of raw materials such as oils from
olive trees. Soap was a luxury enjoyed mainly
by those who could afford it. Manufactured bar
soaps were not available until the late 18th
century in Europe and the U.S. Widespread use
of soap during this period can be attributed to
 In 1791, Nicholas Leblanc patented making
soda ash or sodium carbonate from common salt.
Soda ash is combined with fat to form soap. In the
mid-1800s, Ernest Solvay invented another soap
technology, the ammonia process, to make soda
ash out of common table salt. This process further
reduced the cost of obtaining soda ash and
increased its quantity and quality for soap
manufacturing.
In 1916, Germany created the first
synthetic detergent. It is in response to World War
I soap ingredient shortages. It encouraged
manufacturers to develop synthetic cleaners to
The Chemistry of Soap and Detergent
Soap and detergent are two of the
most common cleaning products used in a
household. They are used in laundering,
dishwashing, bathing, hand washing, and
other types of cleaning. As a consumer, it is a
must for you to understand the chemistry
behind these commercial products. It will
serve as a guide for you to understand their
performance, efficacy, and safety. It can also
help you to be more productive and efficient
in your cleaning strategies.
 Differences between soap and detergent
Properties Soap Detergent
Raw Material Natural materials Synthetic materials
(animal fats or (hydrocarbon from
vegetable oils) petroleum or crude oil)
Formation Alkali and fatty acid Alkali and sulphuric acid
(Sodium or potassium (Sodium or potassium
salt of a long chain of salt of benzene
carboxylic acid/fatty sulphonic acid or alkyl
acids) sulfate)
Effectiveness in Not effective due to Effective and no
Hard Water formation of scum formation of scum
Environmental Biodegradable and can Most are non-
Impact easily be broken down biodegradable and form
by bacteria thick foam that can kill
aquatic life
Examples Sodium palmitate and Deoxycholic acid and
 Preparation of Soap
Ingredients:
a. Fatty acid from animal fats and
vegetable oils ▪ source of the
hydrocarbon chain – hydrophobic (water-
hating end) but attracted to grease and
oils ▪ Carboxylate end – hydrophilic
(water-loving end)
b. Alkali ▪ Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or
caustic soda – produces hard soap-like
bath and bar soap
▪ Potassium hydroxide (KOH) or caustic
Chemical
Structure of
Soap
Saponification
involves heating
plant oils and
animal fats,
reacting them
with a liquid
alkali to produce
soap plus water
plus glycerine.
Another way of soap making is the
hydrolysis of oils and fats in high-
pressure steam to yield crude fatty
acids and glycerine – purification of
fatty acids through distillation and
neutralization of fatty acids with
alkali to form soap and water
Preparation of Detergent Ingredients:
a. Petrochemicals (derived from petroleum)
and oleochemical (derived from fats and
oils – the source of the hydrocarbon
chain, the hydrophobic end of detergent
but attracted to grease and oils
b. Other chemicals like sulfur trioxide,
sulfuric acid, or ethylene oxide - the
source of hydrophilic end of the
detergent
Chemical Structure of Detergent
The chemicals like sulfur trioxide and sulfuric
acid react with the hydrocarbon from
petrochemical or oleochemical. It produces a
new acid. The new acid then reacts with the
alkali to produce the anionic surfactant molecule.
Another way to produce detergent is
when the hydrocarbon chain is
converted to fatty alcohol and then
reacts with ethylene oxide. It
produces a nonionic surfactant. This
nonionic surfactant can further react
to sulfurcontaining acids to form the
anionic surfactant, the active
ingredient of detergents.
Soap and Detergent, substances
that, when dissolved in water,
possess the ability to remove dirt
from surfaces such as the
human skin, textiles, and other
solids. The seemingly simple
process of cleaning a soiled surface
is, in fact, complex and consists of
How soap and detergent works
Three types of energy are needed for a good
result of cleaning using soap and detergent:
a. Chemical energy – is provided by the soap and
detergent. The hydrophilic end (water-loving)
mixed up the water, and the hydrophobic end
(water-hating) removes the soil’s grease and
oils.
b. Thermal energy – change in water
temperature. Warm water or hot temperature
helps to dissolve the grease and oil of the soil.
c. Mechanical energy – Machine, hand rubbing,
and another way of agitation help pull the soil
 Surface Tension
● Property of water
● The tension is created as the
water molecules at the surface
are pulled into the body of
water.
● It slows down the wetting of
the surface and inhibits the
cleaning process.
Surface Tension is the resistance offered
by liquid water to forces attempting to
deform or nreak through the surface film of
water.
It is the elastic tendency of the fluid
surface which makes the fluid acquire the
least surface area possible.
Hard water- water that has high mineral
content.It is determined by the amount of
Ca, Mg and other mineral it contains.
Surfactant-(surface active
agent)-a substance which
lowers the surface tension of
the medium in which it is
dissolved and or the
interfacial tension.
● Enhance the cleaning effectiveness of
surfactants
● Reduce water hardness (possible formation of
scum or film)
● Supply and maintain alkalinity
● It is done either by:
Sequestration or chelation – holding hard
materials in the solution
Examples: complex phosphates and sodium
citrate
Precipitation – forming an insoluble substance
Examples: sodium carbonate and sodium
silicate
DETERGE SOA
NT 1.What are the differences
P between preparing soap
and detergent?
2.What will be the best thing
to use in handwashing and
dishwashing? Is it soap or
detergent? Why?
3.Which is the best thing to
use in cleaning bathroom
and kitchen countertops?
Is it soap or detergent?
Why?
4. Why does the local government prohibit people living
in the barrios to launder nearby rivers and lakes?
5. What are the tips you can give to make laundering
more effective?
Linear Alkylbenzene sulfonic acid-used as cleaning
agent(household and personal care products).It is
corrosive to the eyes, irritating to skin and respiratory
tract.It is toxic to aquatic organisms.
Lauric Acid-it is used for treating viral infection
including flu,cold, fever, cold sores, genital herpes
caused by herpes simplex virus, genital warts caused
by human papilloma virus.
Stearic acid- used in production of detergents, soaps
and cosmetics such as shampoo, shaving cream
products for it helps object such as bar soap,candles oil
pastels and candies retain their shapes.