Caprylic Acid
INCI Caprylic Acid. CAS 124-07-2; EC 204-677-5, as CosIng gives them. Also: Octanoic acid, C8:0 fatty acid, Caprylic acid 99%, n-Octylic acid.
Published values
| Saponification value | 384–391 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 387.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.2762 g/g |
| Iodine value | ≤ 0.5 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 387 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Caprylic Acid
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 | 131.2 g(130.0–132.4) | 184.1 g(182.4–185.7) |
| 1 kg | 262.4 g(260.1–264.8) | 368.1 g(364.8–371.5) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 119.0 g(118.0–120.1) | 167.0 g(165.5–168.5) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 238.1 g(235.9–240.2) | 334.0 g(330.9–337.0) |
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 100 : 0
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caproic acid | C6:0 · saturated | ≤ 1 | 1.0 |
| Caprylic acid | C8:0 · saturated | ≥ 99 | 99.0 |
| Capric acid | C10:0 · saturated | ≤ 1 | 1.0 |
Where these numbers come from
Specification table on the product page: acid value 383-390, saponification value 384-391 mg KOH/g, iodine value 0.5 max, titre 15-18 C, colour 0.5/5 max (Lov R/Y); composition C6 1 max, C8 99 min, C10 1 max, others 0.5 max; product form liquid.
Brochure PDF (uploaded 2012), fractionated fatty acids table: AV 383-390, SAP 384-391, IV 0.5 max, titre 15-18 C, colour 0.5/5 max, C6 1 max, C8 99 min, C10 1 max. Text extracted with pdftotext -layout; the extracted rows are shifted one line against their labels, and the column was checked against the product page.
Producer specification for Wilmar WILFARIN CA-0899 (Caprylic Acid 99%, from the splitting of palm and palm-kernel oil): acid value 383-390 mg KOH/g, saponification value 384-391 mg KOH/g, iodine value 0.5 max (% I2 absorbed = g/100 g), titre 15-18 C, colour 0.5/5 max (Lovibond R/Y), composition C6 1 % max, C8 99 % min, C10 1 % max, others 0.5 % max; supplied liquid. This is a free fatty acid, so it neutralises rather than saponifies and takes one KOH per molecule, not three: 56106 / 144.21 = 389.1 mg KOH/g for the pure acid, which sits inside the published 384-391 band and agrees with it to 0.4 %. Use the published value directly for lye calculation - running it through a triglyceride assumption would treble it and is the classic way to burn a batch. Titre 15-18 C is a solidification point rather than a melting point, so the melting point is blank. Wilmar's oleochemical brochure carries the same limits for CA-0899 (additional source); its text-extracted table rows are offset by one line, so the mapping was fixed against the product page, which prints the same five numbers in order. At 389 mg KOH/g this is the most lye-hungry fat in the dataset - about 1.5 times coconut oil - and the soap it makes is extremely soluble, so at any real percentage it gives a soft, fast-dissolving, harshly stripping bar; in practice C8 is wanted only as the couple of percent that rides along in coconut and palm-kernel oil. INCI name from CosIng; the salt names were not established from an allowed document, so saponifiedInci is blank.
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