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Oils

Coconut Oil

INCI Cocos Nucifera Oil. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Cocoate, with KOH as Potassium Cocoate. Also: Cocos nucifera oil, Copra oil, Coconut oil 76.

Calculate a 100 % Coconut Oil bar

Published values

Saponification value248–265 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator256.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1829 g/g
Iodine value6.3–10.6 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)248
Melting point23–26 °C
Unsaponifiable matter≤ 1.5 %

A bar made of 100 % Coconut Oil

Hardness 80 above 29–54
Cleansing 68 above 12–22
Conditioning 9 below 44–69
Bubbly lather 68 above 14–46
Creamy lather 12 below 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
Caproic acid C6:0 · saturated 0–0.7 0.3
Caprylic acid C8:0 · saturated 4.6–10 7.3
Capric acid C10:0 · saturated 5–8 6.5
Lauric acid C12:0 · saturated 45.1–53.2 49.2
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated 16.8–21 18.9
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 7.5–10.2 8.8
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 2–4 3.0
Oleic acid C18:1 5–10 7.5
Linoleic acid C18:2 1–2.5 1.8
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 0–0.2 0.1
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated 0–0.2 0.1
Gadoleic acid C20:1 0–0.2 0.1

Where these numbers come from

Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO)CXS 210-1999 Standard for Named Vegetable Oils, print of the 2019 revision (adopted 1999; revised 2001, 2003, 2009, 2017, 2019; amended 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) · document dated 2019 · read 2026-09-20

Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link (https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkspace.fao.org%2Fsites%2Fcodex%2FStandards%2FCXS%2B210-1999%2FCXS_210e.pdf) was Cloudflare-gated at retrieval. Table 1 (Section 3.1) = mandatory GLC fatty-acid ranges, % of total fatty acids, ND = not detectable (<=0.05%). Table 2 (Appendix 'Other quality and composition factors') gives saponification value, iodine value (Wijs) and unsaponifiable matter of CRUDE oils; the Appendix is explicitly ADVISORY (a product not meeting it may still conform). This print predates the 2021-2025 amendments; the 2024 additions (avocado, camellia seed, sacha inchi, high-oleic soya bean) are not included.

Gustav Heess GmbH (oil producer/refiner), product specification sheetProduct Specification: Coconut oil refined Ph. Eur. 12 (Reg-No. Sp100031h) · document dated 2026-01-21 · read 2026-09-20

Slip melting point 23-26 C (Ph. Eur. 2.2.15); unsaponifiable max 1.0 %; refractive index (40 C) ca. 1.449.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (Japanese Pharmacopoeia, 18th Edition, English version)JP XVIII, Crude Drugs and Related Drugs (official monographs) · document dated 2021-06-07 · read 2026-09-20

JP XVIII 'Coconut Oil': melting point 20-28 C; acid value NMT 0.2; saponification value 246-264; unsaponifiable matter NMT 1.0 %; iodine value 7-11.

Fatty acids from CXS 210 Table 1 (mandatory GLC ranges, % of total fatty acids; 'ND' = not detectable, <=0.05%, entries that are ND-only are omitted; C17:0, C17:1, C20:2, C22:2 and C24:1 columns omitted because they are outside this schema's key list). sapKohMgPerG, iodineValue and unsaponifiablePercent from Appendix Table 2 (crude oils; ADVISORY, not mandatory; unsaponifiable converted from g/kg). No 'typical' values are printed in the standard, so none are given. Appendix: Reichert value 6-8.5, Polenske value 13-18; relative density 0.908-0.921 (40 C). Melting point: Ph. Eur. 12 refined coconut oil slip melting point 23-26 C (Heess sheet); JP XVIII 'Coconut Oil' melting point 20-28 C, SAP 246-264, IV 7-11, unsaponifiable max 1.0 %. Ph. Eur. 12 FA ranges (Heess): caproic max 1.5, caprylic 5.0-11.0, capric 4.0-9.0, lauric 40.0-50.0, myristic 15.0-20.0, palmitic 7.0-12.0, stearic 1.5-5.0, oleic 4.0-10.0, linoleic 1.0-3.0, linolenic/arachidic/eicosenoic max 0.2 %.

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.