Baobab Oil
INCI Adansonia Digitata Seed Oil. CAS 91745-12-9; EC 294-680-8, as CosIng gives them. Also: Baobab seed oil, Adansonia digitata seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 186.83–196.87 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 191.9 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1368 g/g |
| Iodine value | 85.89–90.7 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 104 |
| Melting point | 10.67–12.3 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 0.9–1.22 % |
One soapmaking book prints 0.143 g NaOH per g. One book prints 0.143 g NaOH per g for baobab oil, a little above every analysis we found. Measured Tanzanian oils gave 187-197 mg KOH/g and the fatty acids come to about 195, so we use 192 (0.137).
A bar made of 100 % Baobab Oil
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
How much lye
| Oil | NaOH | KOH |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g | 65.0 g(63.3–66.7) | 91.1 g(88.7–93.5) |
| 1 kg | 129.9 g(126.5–133.3) | 182.3 g(177.5–187.0) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 58.9 g(57.4–60.5) | 82.7 g(80.5–84.8) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 117.9 g(114.8–121.0) | 165.3 g(161.0–169.7) |
For this oil alone at 5 % superfat, with pure sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or pure potassium hydroxide (KOH); in brackets, across the published range of its saponification value. KOH is usually sold at 90 %: divide by 0.9. For a whole recipe, open the calculator.
Fatty-acid profile
Saturated : unsaturated 29 : 71
| Fatty acid | Published 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 | 19.2 |
| 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
Table 2 = physicochemical properties by region (SAP, IV, unsaponifiable matter, FFA, PV, RI, SG); Table 3 = fatty-acid composition incl. cyclopropenoid acids.
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.
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. The iodine value min 85.89 comes 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 the melting point 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 name from CosIng. INCI: CosIng also carries "Adansonia Digitata Oil" without the plant part; this record is the seed oil, so the seed-oil name is the one used. The saponification range is now Msalilwa et al.'s three regional means (186.83-196.87), which agree with the composition (about 195). Ofori et al. 2023's 175.2 and 179.9 are read and not used: the same paper prints refractive indices of 1.425-1.431, which no seed oil with an iodine value near 87 has (Codex gives oils of this kind 1.458-1.470 at 40 C). Its iodine value and melting point, used elsewhere in this record, deserve the same second look.
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