Borage Oil
INCI Borago Officinalis Seed Oil. CAS 225234-12-8, as CosIng gives it. Also: Borage seed oil, Starflower oil, Borago officinalis seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 184–195 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 189.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1351 g/g |
| Iodine value | 120–160 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 50 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 0.39–0.78 % |
Soapmaking books print about 0.133 g NaOH per g (median of 3 books), which agrees with ours to within 2 %.
A bar made of 100 % Borage 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 | 64.2 g(62.3–66.0) | 90.0 g(87.4–92.6) |
| 1 kg | 128.3 g(124.6–132.1) | 180.0 g(174.8–185.3) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 58.2 g(56.5–59.9) | 81.7 g(79.3–84.0) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 116.4 g(113.0–119.8) | 163.3 g(158.6–168.1) |
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 16 : 84
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 10.15–10.7 | 10.4 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.13 | 0.1 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 4.12–5.97 | 5.0 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 17.18–21.32 | 19.3 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 35.91–38.01 | 37.0 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| γ-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-6 | 17.16–24.11 | 20.6 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0.37 | 0.4 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 3.98–4.34 | 4.2 |
| Behenic acid | C22:0 · saturated | 0.23 | 0.2 |
| Erucic acid | C22:1 | 2.27–3.08 | 2.7 |
| Lignoceric acid | C24:0 · saturated | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Where these numbers come from
Table 1 full fatty-acid composition of commercial cold-pressed borage seed oil; no SAP/IV.
Fatty-acid composition of crude commercial and Soxhlet-extracted borage oil (GLA 21.22-24.11 %); acid values.
Review Table 1 (borage oil): SV 184-195 mg KOH/g, IV 120-160 g I2/100 g, unsaponifiable 0.39-0.78 %, FFA 0.91 %, PV 8.12, SG 0.910-0.940 (secondary values used for SAP, IV, unsaponifiable).
GAMMA-LINOLENIC ACID (C18:3 n-6) is the defining component and is stored under its own key 'gammaLinolenic', separately from 'linolenic' (alpha-linolenic only): GLA 17.16 +/- 0.64 % (Fratianni et al. 2025), 21.22 +/- 3.01 % (crude commercial cold-pressed oil) and 24.11 +/- 2.94 % (Soxhlet hexane reference oil) (Casas-Cardoso et al. 2021). Fatty-acid field ranges merge Fratianni et al. 2025 (Antioxidants 14:661; commercial cold-pressed borage seed oil from a local market, triplicate; Table 1: palmitic 10.70, C17:0 0.06, stearic 5.97, arachidic 0.37, behenic 0.23, lignoceric 0.10, palmitoleic 0.13, oleic 21.32, eicosenoic 3.98, erucic 2.27, nervonic (C24:1) 1.48, linoleic 35.91, GLA 17.16, alpha-linolenic 0.20, C20:2n6 0.14 %; SFA 17.43, MUFA 29.18, PUFA 53.40 %) with Casas-Cardoso et al. 2021 (Foods 10:2471; Spain; crude commercial oil: palmitic 10.69, stearic 4.61, oleic 18.63, linoleic 37.45, GLA 21.22, eicosenoic 4.34, erucic 3.08 %; Soxhlet oil: palmitic 10.15, stearic 4.12, oleic 17.18, linoleic 38.01, GLA 24.11, eicosenoic 4.18, erucic 2.63 %; acid value 5.4 % crude, 3.2 % Soxhlet). Nervonic acid 1.48 % and C20:2 0.14 % are not schema keys. The saponification value 184-195, the iodine value 120-160 and the unsaponifiable share 0.39-0.78 are NOT from a primary experimental paper: they are the values tabulated for cold-pressed borage oil in the systematic review Dash et al. 2026 (Front. Nutr., Table 1, citing their refs 85, 213 and 216; also FFA 0.91 %, PV 8.12, specific gravity 0.910-0.940) - secondary (review) figures, retained because no primary open-access paper opened printed SAP or IV for borage oil and the Ph. Eur./USP borage-oil monographs are paywalled. Melting point: not reported. INCI name from CosIng.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL), which you can download as CSV or JSON. Found an error or a better primary source? Corrections with a link to the document are welcome at support@soapformulator.com.