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Sodium Hydroxide and the Production of Soap

 

            Different forms of soap have been used for at least 2,300 years. The Phoenicians formed a type of soap from goat's tallow and wood ashes in 600 BC and used it to barter (History). The first soap, which resembles what we have today, was made by the Italians and Spanish from goat fat and beech tree ash (Coss 6). What was once a home craft has now developed into a booming industry. .
             Large and small scale soap making involves the mixture of fat or oil with a caustic alkali (8). The caustic alkali consists of a hydroxyl group with an alkali. The most common of these are potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) of which the latter will be dealt with more specifically. .
             Before it was known exactly what sodium hydroxide was, it was produced on a small-scale by running water through wood ash and then boiling it to condense it. The rustic soap-maker may still employ this method because is economic. Otherwise sodium hydroxide may be purchased in the average grocery store as lye. .
             The production of sodium hydroxide and chlorine is simultaneous. This is because one is a byproduct of the other. They are produced by the electrolysis of sodium chloride solution commonly known as brine. The demand for chlorine and sodium hydroxide provide a billion dollar industry (McMurry and Fay 793). In 1999 alone, 10.4 billion kilograms of sodium hydroxide and 12.1 billion kilograms of chlorine were produced (Chlorine). The Tosoh Corporation, along with Asahi Chemical Industry Company, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Nippon Soda Company are among the leading sodium hydroxide producers along with many other chemicals (Tosoh).
             During the electrolysis of brine, graphite rods are the anodes while either mercury and/or iron act as the cathode. The reactions occurring at the cathode and anode are modeled by these equations:.
             Anode reaction: 2 Clá (aq) Cl2 (g) + 2 eá .
             Cathode reaction: 2 H2O(l) + 2 eá H2 (g)+ 2 OHá (aq).


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