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Oils

Babassu Oil

INCI Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Babassuate, with KOH as Potassium Babassuate. Also: Orbignya spp. kernel oil, Babassu kernel oil.

Calculate a 100 % Babassu Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value245–256 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator250.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1786 g/g
Iodine value10–18 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)237
Melting point
Unsaponifiable matter≤ 1.2 %

A bar made of 100 % Babassu Oil

Hardness 79 above 29–54
Cleansing 67 above 12–22
Conditioning 19 below 44–69
Bubbly lather 67 above 14–46
Creamy lather 13 below 16–48

Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.

Fatty-acid profile

Fatty acidPublished range, %Used
Caprylic acid C8:0 · saturated 2.6–7.3 5.0
Capric acid C10:0 · saturated 1.2–7.6 4.4
Lauric acid C12:0 · saturated 40–55 47.5
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 11–27 19.0
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 5.2–11 8.1
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 1.8–7.4 4.6
Oleic acid C18:1 9–20 14.5
Linoleic acid C18:2 1.4–6.6 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO)CXS 210-1999 Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, print of the 2019 revision (adopted 1999; revised 2001, 2003, 2009, 2017, 2019; amended 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) · document dated 2019 · read 2026-09-20

Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link (https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.fao.org%2Fsites%2Fcodex%2FStandards%2FCXS%2B210-1999%2FCXS_210e.pdf) was Cloudflare-gated at retrieval. Table 1 (Section 3.1) = mandatory GLC fatty-acid ranges, % of total fatty acids, ND = not detectable (<=0.05%). Table 2 (Appendix 'Other quality and composition factors') gives saponification value, iodine value (Wijs) and unsaponifiable matter of CRUDE oils; the Appendix is explicitly ADVISORY (a product not meeting it may still conform). This print predates the 2021-2025 amendments; the 2024 additions (avocado, camellia seed, sacha inchi, high-oleic soya bean) are not included.

Fatty acids from CXS 210 Table 1 (mandatory GLC ranges, % of total fatty acids; 'ND' = not detectable, <=0.05%, entries that are ND-only are omitted; C17:0, C17:1, C20:2, C22:2 and C24:1 columns omitted because they are outside this schema's key list). sapKohMgPerG, iodineValue and unsaponifiablePercent from Appendix Table 2 (crude oils; ADVISORY, not mandatory; unsaponifiable converted from g/kg). No 'typical' values are printed in the standard, so none are given. Appendix: Reichert value 4.5-6.5, Polenske value 8-10. Relative density 0.914-0.917 (25 C), refractive index 1.448-1.451 (40 C). Melting point not given in the standard.

This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.