Coconut Oil
INCI Cocos Nucifera Oil. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Cocoate, with KOH as Potassium Cocoate. CAS 8001-31-8; EC 232-282-8, as CosIng gives them. Also: Cocos nucifera oil, Copra oil, Coconut oil 76, Cocoa-nut oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 248–265 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 256.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1829 g/g |
| Iodine value | 6.3–10.6 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 248 |
| Melting point | 23–26 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | ≤ 1.5 % |
Soapmaking books print about 0.186 g NaOH per g (median of 11 books), which agrees with ours to within 2 %. Soapmaking books print 0.178-0.192 g NaOH per g for coconut oil, and one says outright that it uses the bottom of the range. The standards give 246-265 mg KOH/g, eleven retail virgin and refined oils measured in 2009 averaged 256, and the oil's fatty acids agree. We use 256.5 (0.183), the middle of the Codex range.
A bar made of 100 % Coconut 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 | 86.9 g(84.0–89.7) | 121.8 g(117.8–125.9) |
| 1 kg | 173.7 g(168.0–179.5) | 243.7 g(235.6–251.8) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 78.8 g(76.2–81.4) | 110.5 g(106.9–114.2) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 157.6 g(152.4–162.8) | 221.1 g(213.7–228.4) |
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 91 : 9
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caproic acid | C6:0 · saturated | 0–0.7 | 0.4 |
| 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 | 8.9 |
| 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 |
Recipes that use it
- Hundred percent coconut bar 100 % of the oils
- Zero-superfat coconut laundry bar 100 % of the oils
- Seawater marine soap 90 % of the oils
- Coconut liquid dish soap 85 % of the oils
- Sea salt bar 80 % of the oils
- Solid dish and kitchen bar 80 % of the oils
- Kitchen bar 70 % of the oils
- Pink salt spa bar 70 % of the oils
- Coconut brine bar 60 % of the oils
- Coconut liquid hand soap 50 % of the oils
- Tallow and coconut laundry bar 50 % of the oils
- Liquid hand soap 40 % of the oils
Guides that discuss it
- Antioxidants and chelators: keeping soap from going off
- Choosing the oils for your first soap
- Dreaded orange spots (DOS) and rancid soap
- Heat in soapmaking: lye solution, soaping temperature and gel
- Marseille soap: what savon de Marseille is and what 72 % means
- Soap from used cooking oil: how much lye, and how to clean the oil
- Soap in hard water: scum, chelators and rinse
- Swirl techniques: in the pot, drop, hanger, spoon and Taiwan
- The 25er-Rezept: Germany's four-oil beginner soap, with or without palm
- The soaping oils: what each one brings to a bar
- Transparent soap by the solvent method
- Your first cold process soap, step by step
Compared with other oils
Where these numbers come from
Verbatim mirror of the FAO file CXS_210e.pdf; the official FAO link 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.
Slip melting point 23-26 C (Ph. Eur. 2.2.15); unsaponifiable max 1.0 %; refractive index (40 C) ca. 1.449.
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 the acids this database records). The saponification value, the iodine value and the unsaponifiable share 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), 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.