Lanolin (Wool Fat)
INCI Lanolin. Also: Wool fat, Adeps lanae, Wool wax, Anhydrous lanolin, Purified lanolin.
Published values
| Saponification value | 90–105 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 97.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.0695 g/g |
| Iodine value | 18–36 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 71 |
| Melting point | 38–44 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Lanolin (Wool Fat)
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
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
Values are the Ph. Eur. 11.0 monograph limits as stated by the producer: acid value max 1.0; peroxide value max 20.0 meq O2/kg; drop point 38-44 C; saponification value 90.0-105.0 mg KOH/g; loss on drying max 0.5 %; sulphated ash max 0.15 %.
Mirror site hosting the USP 29-NF 24 text; values transcribed from that page. Newer USP editions may differ.
JP XVIII 'Purified Lanolin' (Adeps Lanae Purificatus): melting point 37-43 C; acid value NMT 1.0; iodine value 18-36 (Hanus).
Lanolin is a WAX (esters of lanolin alcohols - sterols, triterpene and aliphatic alcohols - with C10-C30 normal, iso and anteiso fatty acids and hydroxy acids), not a triglyceride; it saponifies slowly and incompletely under soap-making conditions and is used as a superfatting/conditioning additive rather than a soap base. SAP 90.0-105.0 mg KOH/g, drop point 38-44 C, acid value max 1.0, peroxide max 20 from the Ph. Eur. 11.0 'Wool fat' (Adeps lanae) limits as transcribed on the Gustav Heess specification sheet. Iodine value 18-36 from USP 29 'Lanolin' (melting range 38-44 C, water NMT 0.25 %) and JP XVIII 'Purified Lanolin' (iodine value 18-36, melting point 37-43 C, acid value NMT 1.0). Unsaponifiable matter (~40-50 % lanolin alcohols) not specified numerically in these sources.
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.