soapformulator
English
Oils

Baobab Oil

Also: Baobab seed oil, Adansonia digitata seed oil.

Calculate a 100 % Baobab Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value175.2–196.87 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator186.0 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1326 g/g
Iodine value85.89–90.7 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)98
Melting point10.67–12.3 °C
Unsaponifiable matter0.9–1.22 %

A bar made of 100 % Baobab Oil

Hardness 25 below 29–54
Cleansing 0 below 12–22
Conditioning 65 44–69
Bubbly lather 0 below 14–46
Creamy lather 25 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
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 0.2–0.34 0.3
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 14.99–30 22.5
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 0.1–0.99 0.5
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 1.15–4.1 2.6
Oleic acid C18:1 21.2–37.6 29.4
Linoleic acid C18:2 3.64–29 16.3
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 12.16–26.14 19.1
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 0.54–1.3 0.9
Behenic acid C22:0 · saturated 0.27–0.4 0.3
Lignoceric acid C24:0 · saturated 0.19–0.2 0.2

Where these numbers come from

Journal of Lipids (Hindawi) via PubMed CentralMsalilwa U.L., Makule E.E., Munishi L.K., Ndakidemi P.A. Physicochemical Properties, Fatty Acid Composition, and the Effect of Heating on the Reduction of Cyclopropenoid Fatty Acids on Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) Crude Seed Oil. J. Lipids 2020, 2020, 6691298 (doi 10.1155/2020/6691298) · document dated 2020 · read 2026-09-20

Table 2 = physicochemical properties by region (SAP, IV, unsaponifiable matter, FFA, PV, RI, SG); Table 3 = fatty-acid composition incl. cyclopropenoid acids.

International Journal of Food Science (Hindawi) via PubMed CentralOfori H., Bart-Plange A., Addo A., Dzisi K.A. Impact of Different Oil Extraction Techniques on the Physicochemical Properties of Adansonia digitata Seed. Int. J. Food Sci. 2023, 2023, 6233461 (doi 10.1155/2023/6233461) · document dated 2023 · read 2026-09-20

Mechanical vs Soxhlet extraction: SAP 175.2/179.9, IV 85.89/88.45, melting point 10.67/12.3 C, AV, PV, RI, density.

RSC Advances (Royal Society of Chemistry) via PubMed CentralGashi F., Turner C., Mustafa A., Nermark F. A sustainable approach to extracting baobab oil: neat supercritical CO2 optimization. RSC Adv. 2025, 15, 21803-21810 (doi 10.1039/d5ra02490k) · document dated 2025 · read 2026-09-20

Table 2 fatty-acid composition (wt%) of scCO2 and warm-pressed oil from Sudanese seeds; merged into the ranges.

Primary source (Msalilwa et al. 2020, Journal of Lipids 2020:6691298; crude oil from seeds of 9 trees in three semi-arid Tanzanian regions, Dodoma/Iringa/Kilimanjaro). Table 2: saponification value 196.87 +/- 2.8 (Iringa), 196.45 +/- 0.77 (Dodoma), 186.83 +/- 0.45 (Kilimanjaro) mg KOH/g; iodine value 87.16 +/- 5.31, 87.69 +/- 0.61, 90.70 +/- 1.71 g I2/100 g; unsaponifiable matter 1.22, 1.17, 0.90 g/100 g; FFA 1.03-1.06 mEq/100 g; PV 3.69-3.83 mEq/kg; specific gravity 0.928 (25 C). Table 3 (% of total fatty acids, ranges across regions): myristic 0.28-0.34, palmitic 14.99-20.48, palmitoleic 0.78-0.99, stearic 1.15-2.16, arachidic 0.54-1.30, oleic 21.20-24.86, vaccenic 2.40-5.48, linoleic 3.64-5.48, linolenic 12.16-26.14, arachidonic 0.26-0.733; CYCLOPROPENOID fatty acids: sterculic 0.97-1.45 %, dihydrosterculic 0.80-1.29 %, malvalic below detection limit (the paper's subject is reducing these by heating; ~200 C is their recommended refining temperature). CAUTION: this paper's linoleic (3.6-5.5 %) vs linolenic (12-26 %) split is the reverse of the other document opened. Additional source Gashi et al. 2025 (RSC Advances 15:21803-21810; seeds from western Sudan; Table 2, wt%): scCO2 extract palmitic 30.0, oleic 37.0, linoleic 29.0, stearic 4.10, arachidic 0.94, myristic 0.29, palmitoleic 0.28, behenic 0.27, lignoceric 0.19, heptadecanoic 0.22, cis-10-heptadecenoic 0.40, pentadecanoic 0.06, tricosanoic 0.06; warm-press oil palmitic 23.4, oleic 37.6, linoleic 28.9, stearic 3.7, behenic 0.4, lignoceric 0.2, myristic 0.2, palmitoleic 0.1, arachidic < 0.1 (no linolenic listed; no SAP/IV). The fatty-acid ranges above merge both papers, so palmitic 14.99-30.0, oleic 21.2-37.6 and linoleic 3.64-29.0 are wide, and linolenic 12.16-26.14 rests on Msalilwa alone; behenic and lignoceric rest on Gashi alone. sapKohMgPerG min 175.2 and iodineValue min 85.89 come from Ofori et al. 2023 (Int. J. Food Sci. 2023:6233461; seeds from the Volta Region, Ghana): SAP 175.2 +/- 2.5 (mechanical) and 179.9 +/- 2.9 (Soxhlet) mg KOH/g; IV 85.89 +/- 1.2 and 88.45 +/- 2.1 g/100 g; melting point 10.67 +/- 1.5 and 12.3 +/- 0.6 C (the meltingPointC range); acid value 4.57-9.31 mg KOH/g; RI 1.425-1.431; density 0.87-0.97 g/cm3; no fatty-acid table. INCI not verified on CosIng or a producer TDS, so left null.

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.