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Fatty acids

Palmitic Acid

INCI Palmitic Acid. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Palmitate, with KOH as Potassium Palmitate. Also: Hexadecanoic acid, C16 fatty acid, Palmitic acid 98%.

Calculate a 100 % Palmitic Acid bar

Published values

Saponification value218–221 mg KOH/g
Used by the calculator219.5 mg KOH/g (midpoint)
SAP for NaOH0.1565 g/g
Iodine value≤ 1 g I₂/100 g
INS (SAP − IV)219
Melting point
Unsaponifiable matter

A bar made of 100 % Palmitic Acid

Hardness 102 above 29–54
Cleansing 2 below 12–22
Conditioning 0 below 44–69
Bubbly lather 2 below 14–46
Creamy lather 100 above 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
Myristic acid C14:0 · saturated ≤ 2 2.0
Palmitic acid C16:0 · saturated ≥ 98 98.0
Stearic acid C18:0 · saturated ≤ 2 2.0

Where these numbers come from

Wilmar International Ltd (oleochemicals producer)PALMITIC ACID 98% (WILFARIN PA-1698) product specification page · read 2026-09-20

Specification table on the product page: acid value, saponification value, iodine value, titre, colour, fatty-acid composition limits.

Wilmar International Ltd (oleochemicals producer)Wilmar Oleochemical and Biofuel Division product brochure (Fractionated Fatty Acids table, WILFARIN PA-1698 / PA-1695) · read 2026-09-20

Brochure PDF (uploaded 2012): PA-1698 AV 217-220, SAP 218-221, IV 0.5 max, titre 61-63 C; PA-1695 AV 217-221, SAP 218-222, IV 2 max, titre 60-63 C. Text extracted with pdftotext.

Producer specification for Wilmar WILFARIN PA-1698 (Palmitic Acid 98%): acid value 217-220 mg KOH/g, saponification value 218-221 mg KOH/g, iodine value 1.0 max (% I2 absorbed = g/100 g), titre 61-63 C, colour 0.3/3 max (Lovibond R/Y), composition C14 2 % max, C16 98 % min, C18 2 % max, others 1 % max. Free fatty acid: SAP is essentially the acid value; use directly for lye calculation. Titre 61-63 C is a solidification point rather than a melting point, so meltingPointC is null. Wilmar's brochure lists the same AV/SAP for PA-1698 and a 95 % grade PA-1695 (AV 217-221, SAP 218-222, IV 2 max, titre 60-63 C). INCI and salt names are the standard CosIng entries, not re-verified on CosIng in this session.

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.