Saponification of Triglycerides Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Saponification of Triglycerides - Lab Report ExampleIn this process the triglyceride is reacted with a strong base such as sodium or thou hydroxide to produce glycerol and fill outty acid salts (Whitten et al., 2007). The saponification of glyceryl tristearate is illustrated in Figure 1.The super Cest soaps ar the fat-acid salts of sodium and potassium. Hard soaps ar sodium salts while soft soaps are potassium salts. The fatty-acid salts of ammonium are also sometimes used for cleansing. Only a few other soaps are of practical importance, for example lead soaps which are used in medicinal plasters, zinc soaps which are used in ointments, and aluminum soaps which are used in waterproofing. Very few of the salts of fatty acids pretend the properties of common soap. Most of them are but slightly soluble in water, and therefore do not yield suds and have little or no detergent (i.e., cleansing) action. All are nevertheless termed soaps by chemists (Lewkowitsch, 1904).The saponific ation number (S) is the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to convert one gram of the fat completely into glycerine and potassium soap. It gives information concerning the character of the fatty acids of the fat and in particular concerning the solubility of their soaps in water. Table 1 lists the saponification number of the common fats and embrocates.Table 1 shows that butter ranks with palm kernel oil and coconut palm oil as having a very high saponification number. ... Mutton tallow192 - 195.5Menhaden oil190.6Peanut oil (arachis)190 - 196Corn oil188 - 193Horse oil195 - 197Olive oil185 - 196Beef tallow193.2 - 200Soy bean oil193 ornament oil196 - 205Cacao butter193.55Butter220 - 233Linseed oil192 - 195Palm kernel oil242 - 250Cottonseed oil193 - 195Coconut oil246 - 260Lard195.4(Lewkowitsch, 1904 400)Table 1 shows that butter ranks with palm kernel oil and coconut oil as having a very high saponification number. This is due to the fact that its triglycerides cont ain appreciable quantities of fatty acids (myristic acid and small quantities of lauric acid) which when they form soap combine with relatively more sodium or potassium than the more common acids of fats. These acids occur in dependable butter in chemical combination as triglycerides. Their sodium or potassium soaps are quite soluble in water. The high saponification number of coconut oil and palm kernel oil is due to the large proportion of fatty acids (lauric acid and myristic acid) that they contain.In this laboratory exercise, saponification as the hydrolysis in basic issue of fats and oils to produce glycerol and salts of fatty acids, and determination of saponification number of sample fat and oil were evaluated.II. MethodTriglyceride (2 g) was accurately weighed and was placed in a dry weighty bottom flask. The prepared ethanolic potassium hydroxide solution (50 cm3) was added to the flask using a pipette. Few anti bumping granules were added to the stirring solution. aft (prenominal) setting up the ebb condenser, the solution was boiled for at least 30 minutes. A blank experiment with identical volume as the sample solution was also carried out. After refluxing, the solution was allowed to cool.After cooling, a few drops of