Palm | Kelapa Sawit

One of the products derived from red palm oil by the direct route is soap. Both bath soap and laundry soap can be made from red palm oil and lye when mixed in the right proportions and at the right temperature.
Soap can be made from different types of animal or vegetable oil or fat. Palm oil has a saponification value that determins how much lye should be used in making soap with it. This saponification value for different oils are publishen in saponification tables. Download soap calculator from soapcalc.com.
Acurate measurement of quantities and temperatures of the ingredients is impotant for successful soap making.
Ingredients:

A soap making recipe
Red palm oil
Water
Sodium or potassium hydroxide
Perfume
Coloring
Emoluent (optional)
Equipment
Weighing scale (depends on the quantity of soap you want to make)
Thermometer
Hydrometer (optional)
Protective gloves
Protective goggles
Heat resistant glass or stainless steel mixing bowls
Wooden stirring device
A pot
Stove
Mold to pour the soap before it hardens.
Procedure
Prepare your recipe or obtain one.
Weigh the ingredients as per your recipe
Prepare the lye by dissolving the sodium or potasium hydroxide in the pre-weighed quantity of water. I use a ratio of 2:1 water to sodium hydroxide. Great caution is needed here as the nixture reacts vigorously, gives off very pungent fumes, is very corossive, and gets very hot. In fact it is best to perform this mixing process outdoors in the open air.
Warm the palm oil or fat to liquefy it.
Allow te hot lye to cool to within 5 degrees Celsius of the temperature of the oil preferably about 42 degrees Celsius.
Then mix the oil and lye, stirring vigorously. The mixing vessel will get quite hot so it is better to use heat resistant vessels for this mixing. Mix continuously until the mixture is smooth and just beginning to thicken. This is called "trace" in soap making jargon and is a very important state.
When trace is attained, mix in the coloring. This must have been pre-dissolved in a little water or oil depending on the color.
Continue to stir vigorously to ensure that the mixture remains smooth and no lumps are formed.
Then pour in the perfume and mix thoroughly.
When the mixture is thick enough to pour, pour into the mold which has been line with oil proof paper to facilitate the removal of the soap from the mold later.
Cover the entire mold and soap with suitalbe cardboard to cool.
Leave to cool for about 48 hours to harden.
Remove from the mold and cut up into bars.
Store in an open shelve to cure for about 2-3 weeks before use.