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Oils

Hemp Seed Oil

INCI Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Hempseedate, with KOH as Potassium Hempseedate. Also: Cannabis sativa seed oil, Hempseed oil.

Calculate a 100 % Hemp Seed Oil bar

The saponification value here is derived, not published. No primary document we could use gives one for Hemp Seed Oil, so it is calculated from this record's own fatty-acid composition: chain lengths fix the molar mass, which fixes how much hydroxide a gram of fat consumes. That gives 191.9 mg KOH/g, ±3 %.

That is stoichiometry on a measured composition rather than a guess, and it is about as well determined as a published figure: checked against the 35 Codex oils where both fields come from the same standard, the method's median error is 0.90 % and its 90th percentile 2.74 %, with no meaningful bias. The formula page shows the working. If you have a certificate of analysis for your lot, enter its measured value in the calculator and this estimate is set aside.

Published values

Saponification valuenot published
Derived from composition191.9 ± 3 % mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator191.9 mg KOH/g (derived)
SAP for NaOH0.1368 g/g
Iodine value145–170 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)34
Melting point
Unsaponifiable matter

A bar made of 100 % Hemp Seed Oil

Hardness 11 below 29–54
Cleansing 0 below 12–22
Conditioning 90 above 44–69
Bubbly lather 0 below 14–46
Creamy lather 11 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
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated 4.5–12.5 8.5
Palmitoleic acid C16:1 ≤ 1 1.0
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated 0.5–4.5 2.5
Oleic acid C18:1 5.5–20.5 13.0
Linoleic acid C18:2 44.5–65.5 55.0
α-Linolenic acid C18:3 n-3 13.5–30.5 22.0
Arachidic acid C20:0 · saturated ≤ 2 2.0
Gadoleic acid C20:1 ≤ 1 1.0
Behenic acid C22:0 · saturated ≤ 1 1.0

Where these numbers come from

Gustav Heess GmbH (oil producer/refiner), product specification sheetProduct Specification: Hemp seed oil cold pressed (Reg-No. Sp305020h) · document dated 2025-11-25 · read 2026-09-20
Gustav Heess GmbH (oil producer/refiner), product specification sheetProduct Specification: Hemp seed oil refined (Reg-No. Sp305030g) · document dated 2022-11-28 · read 2026-09-20

Values are the producer's release specification for cold-pressed hemp seed oil (Gustav Heess GmbH): iodine value 145.0-170.0 g I2/100 g (Ph. Eur. 2.5.4); acid value max 4.0; THC max 7.5 ppm; palmitic 4.5-12.5, palmitoleic max 1.0, stearic 0.5-4.5, oleic 5.5-20.5, linoleic 44.5-65.5, gamma-linolenic min 0.5, alpha-linolenic 13.5-30.5, arachidic max 2.0, eicosenoic max 1.0, behenic max 1.0 %. 'linolenic' here = alpha-linolenic (18:3 n-3); gamma-linolenic (min 0.5 %) has no key in this schema. sapKohMgPerG is NULL: no saponification value printed on the sheet (refined-grade sheet Sp305030g likewise has none).

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.