Calculations of percentage of oils in oil blend for making soap


Question:
A soaper has three types of oils she wants to use in making soap. She wants to make soap with INS factor of 135 and soap which contains 40% of olive oil. She needs your help in calculating the amount of each oil she should use in her soap blend. What are the percentages of palm oil and mutton tallow in her soap blend?

Answer:
Before you solve this problem you must understand the meaning of INS factor. INS factor is defined as the difference between the iodine number and saponification value. It is crucial in soap making because it helps soapmakers to determine the quality of their soap from the blends of oils. The INS factor varies from 15 to 250. In this question, we know the INS factor (135) of the blend. Besides, we know the percentage (40%) of olive required in the blend. However, we do not know the percentage of palm oil and mutton tallow in the blend, but we know their INS factors (Ongoro, P., 2018, p.g 19). Palm oil has 146 INS factor while mutton tallow has INS factors of 155. Therefore, for us to solve this quiz we have to use the algebraic equation. For these reasons, let the amount (in %) of palm oil to be x. This implies that the quantity of the mutton tallow would be (60-x). Now, if you multiply the percentage of each oil in the blend with its corresponding INS factor and then summing them up, they should give INS factor of 135(the INS factor of the blend).
(40/100 *108)+ (x/100*146) + ((60-x)/100*155) =135
43.2+1.46x+93-1.55x=135
1.46x-1.55x=135-136.2
-0.09x=-1.2
X=-1.2/-0.09
=13.33% (percentage of palm oil)
(60-13.33)= 46.67 %( percentage of mutton tallow)
Example:
Let us assume you want to use 5kg oil blend. How much will olive, palm oil and mutton constitute in the blend? Use calculated percentages to get the amount of each oil in the blend.
Olive oil
(40/100 * 5kg) =2kg
Palm oil
(13.33/100 * 5kg) =0.6665kg
Mutton tallow
(46.67/100 * 5kg)= 2.3335kg
If you interested in knowing more on how the INS factor affects the quality of soap from oil blend, then check my E-book page 19. You can order it here.

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