FINAL YEAR PROJECT ON THE “PRODUCTION OF LIQUID DETERGENT FROM CASTOR SEED

Abstract

Non-biodegradability process and non-solubility of mineral oil soap and liquid detergent products cause to pollute fresh tap water. To overcome this problem, replacing of the raw material of mineral oil by vegetable oil is the possible solution. Castor plant is a locally available and cheapest material which is non -edible crop and does not compete with food crops. It is rich in oil which is used for many industrial purposes. The main use of castor oil is in the production of detergents. Therefore; this project work was to carry out with the objective of extraction of oil from castor seeds and its utilization to produce liquid detergent. The detergent production was obtained from castor beans by using pretreatment of castor seed, extraction of castor oil, neutralization and sulphation methods. The oil was extracted via soxhlet extractor using hexane as solvent. Solvent extraction method was employed in extracting the oil and the total percent oil yield was found to be 33.33%. The research also revealed some properties of castor oil in terms of values obtained by the determination of saponification value of 183.93 mg NaOH/g of oil which is in the range of standard saponification value of 176-187 mg NaOH/g of oil, free fatty acid 92%, and acid value (AV) was 1.84 also these values were between the ranges of values specified by ASTM. The soap produced gave a pH of (10.69), foam height (2.57cm) and moisture content (1.785%). The color, scent and ef iciency of the detergent were improved with the addition of bleaching agent and perfume. However, as this paper use of only two ingredients is not enough for good quality of detergents. Hence using other ingredients like optical brightness and enzymes was recommended for more good quality of liquid detergents. The fixed capital investment for the project is 38,837,233.33 birr with a payback period of 1 year. So, this project relies that the castor oil can substitute the expensive detergent base materials and it is a simple way of production which can be done at small scale industries and feasibl