Carnauba Wax
INCI Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax. CAS 8015-86-9; EC 232-399-4, as CosIng gives them. Also: Copernicia cerifera wax, Copernicia prunifera wax, Brazil wax, INS 903, E 903.
Published values
| Saponification value | 78–95 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 86.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.0617 g/g |
| Iodine value | — |
| INS (SAP − IV) | — |
| Melting point | 80–86 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 50–55 % |
Soapmaking books print about 0.062 g NaOH per g (median of 2 books), which agrees with ours to within 2 %.
A bar made of 100 % Carnauba Wax
The soap qualities are derived from the fatty-acid profile, which is below. They are shown here only for records the calculator can use.
How much lye
| Oil | NaOH | KOH |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g | 29.3 g(26.4–32.2) | 41.1 g(37.1–45.1) |
| 1 kg | 58.6 g(52.8–64.3) | 82.2 g(74.1–90.3) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 26.6 g(24.0–29.2) | 37.3 g(33.6–40.9) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 53.1 g(47.9–58.4) | 74.5 g(67.2–81.9) |
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
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This is a true wax — esters of long-chain acids and alcohols rather than a triglyceride — so a fatty-acid profile in the soapmaking sense does not describe it. | |||
Where these numbers come from
IDENTIFICATION (Melting range) and PURITY sections (Acid value, Saponification value, Ester value, Unsaponifiable matter, Sulfated ash, Lead); PDF text extracted with pdftotext. Year of specification: 1998.
Values are the JECFA specification limits for refined carnauba wax (prepared at the 51st JECFA, 1998; FNP 52 Add 6): melting range 80-86 C, acid value 2-7 mg KOH/g, saponification value 78-95 mg KOH/g, ester value 71-93 (saponification value minus acid value), unsaponifiable matter 50-55 %, sulfated ash <= 0.25 %, lead <= 2 mg/kg. Carnauba is a wax-ester mixture (C24-C28 acids esterified with C30-C34 alcohols, hydroxy-esters, cinnamic diesters, free acids/alcohols, hydrocarbons and resins); it is not a triglyceride and about half of it is unsaponifiable, so the SAP describes ester+acid content only. No iodine value or fatty-acid composition is given in the monograph (null). INCI name is the customary CosIng entry, not re-verified on CosIng in this session.
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.