Compared for soap

Olive oil vs olive pomace oil in soap

Pomace oil is solvent-extracted from the paste left after pressing, and by the Codex standard its fatty acids are olive oil’s, so the bar below comes out within a point on every quality. What differs is the rest: up to 3 % unsaponifiable matter against 1.5 %, a saponification value 1.3 % lower, and the trace. Cavitch found pomace traced quickest of the olive grades, and darkest, and Faiola uses it where a batter should set up sooner, for layers and textured tops.

Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil) Olive-Pomace Oil (refined / blended) Compare them with other oils

Olive oil Olive pomace oil

The published figures

	Olive oil	Olive pomace oil
Saponification value, mg KOH/g	184–196	182–193
Used by the calculator, mg KOH/g	190.0 (midpoint)	187.5 (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH, g/g	0.1354	0.1337
Iodine value, g I₂/100 g	75–94	75–92
INS (SAP − IV)	106	104
Melting point, °C	—	—
Unsaponifiable matter, %	≤ 1.5	≤ 3
Name on a soap label	Sodium Olivate	—

Each oil alone

	Olive oil	Olive pomace oil	Usual range
Hardness	17	17	29–54
Cleansing	0	0	12–22
Conditioning	82	81	44–69
Bubbly lather	0	0	14–46
Creamy lather	17	17	16–48

A single oil’s hardness, cleansing and the rest are the same sums the calculator shows for a recipe, applied to that one oil. They explain what the oil brings to a blend; they do not predict how a soap of only that oil would feel.

Swapping one for the other

Gram for gram, olive pomace oil takes 1.3 % less lye than olive oil. For a kilogram of oil at a 5 % superfat, that is 128.7 g of sodium hydroxide for olive oil and 127.0 g for olive pomace oil.

In the bar below, where it is 45 % of the oils, weigh the lye for one and put in the other without recalculating, and the superfat moves:

Lye weighed for	Oil used	Superfat
Olive oil	Olive pomace oil	4.5 %recalculate
Olive pomace oil	Olive oil	5.5 %recalculate

The superfat is the share of the oils the lye leaves unsaponified, planned here at 5 %; below zero, there is more lye than the oils can take. Put the oil you actually have in the lye calculator and it works out the lye for that oil.

The same bar with either

The bar: 45 % of the one or the other, at a 5 % superfat, for 1,000 g of oils. The rest: 25 % coconut oil, 25 % shea butter, and 5 % castor oil.

	With olive oil	With olive pomace oil	Usual range
Sodium hydroxide, g	138.4	137.6
Hardness	39	39	29–54
Cleansing	17	17	12–22
Conditioning	57	57	44–69
Bubbly lather	21	21	14–46
Creamy lather	26	26	16–48
Iodine value	58	57	41–70
INS	147	146	136–165
Linoleic and linolenic acid, %	8.1	7.8

Open the bar with olive oil Open the bar with olive pomace oil

Fatty-acid profile

Fatty acid		Olive oil	Olive pomace oil
Palmitic acid	C16:0	13.8 (7.5–20)	13.8 (7.5–20)
Palmitoleic acid	C16:1	1.9 (0.3–3.5)	1.9 (0.3–3.5)
Stearic acid	C18:0	2.8 (0.5–5)	2.8 (0.5–5)
Oleic acid	C18:1	69.0 (55–83)	69.0 (55–83)
Linoleic acid	C18:2	12.3 (3.5–21)	12.3 (3.5–21)
α-Linolenic acid	C18:3 n-3	0.6 (0–1.2)	0.0

The figure the calculator uses for each oil, as a percentage of its fatty acids, with the published range in brackets.

Recipes with olive oil

Castile brine bar 100 % of the oils
Castile soap 100 % of the oils
Liquid castile soap 100 % of the oils
Nablus-style olive oil soap 100 % of the oils
Savon noir, olive soft soap 100 % of the oils
Greek olive bar 90 % of the oils

Recipes with olive pomace oil

Coconut-free oat and chamomile bar 92 % of the oils
Nettle and yarrow split bar 39 % of the oils
Tomato and charcoal swirl bar 30 % of the oils

Guides

Other comparisons

Where these numbers come from

Olive Oil (virgin / refined / olive oil)

Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO) — CODEX STAN 33-1981 Standard for Olive Oils and Olive Pomace Oils (revised 1989, 2003, 2015; amended 2009, 2013) - 2015 print · document dated 2015 · read 2026-09-20

Section 3 fatty-acid composition (GC, % total FA) is mandatory. Appendix 3 'Chemical and physical characteristics' (relative density 0.910-0.916, saponification value, iodine value (Wijs), unsaponifiable matter) is ADVISORY. C18:3 limit left open in this print (footnote 3: national limits may remain pending IOOC survey).

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (Japanese Pharmacopoeia, 18th Edition, English version) — JP XVIII, Crude Drugs and Related Drugs (official monographs) · document dated 2021-06-07 · read 2026-09-20

JP XVIII 'Olive Oil': acid value NMT 1.0; saponification value 186-194; unsaponifiable matters NMT 1.5 %; iodine value 79-88; specific gravity 0.908-0.914.

Gustav Heess GmbH (oil producer/refiner), product specification sheet — Product Specification: Olive oil refined Ph. Eur. 12 (Reg-No. Sp210031j) · document dated 2026-01-21 · read 2026-09-20

Ph. Eur. 12 'Olive oil, refined' fatty-acid limits, including linolenic acid max 1.2 %: the source of the record's linolenic range, which CXS 33 leaves open.