Tamanu Oil
INCI Calophyllum Inophyllum Seed Oil. Also: Calophyllum inophyllum seed oil, Foraha oil, Alexandrian laurel oil, Dilo oil, Punnai oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 193.5–202 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 197.8 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1410 g/g |
| Iodine value | 113.6 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 84 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
One soapmaking book prints 0.148 g NaOH per g. One book prints 0.148 g NaOH per g for tamanu oil, above every measurement we found. Tamanu's fatty acids put it near 192 mg KOH/g and its free fatty acids and resin raise measured oils to 193.5-202, so we use 197.8 (0.141).
A bar made of 100 % Tamanu 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 | 67.0 g(65.5–68.4) | 93.9 g(91.9–96.0) |
| 1 kg | 133.9 g(131.0–136.8) | 187.9 g(183.8–191.9) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 60.7 g(59.4–62.1) | 85.2 g(83.4–87.0) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 121.5 g(118.9–124.1) | 170.4 g(166.8–174.1) |
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 28 : 72
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 0.02 | 0.0 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 9.86–15.75 (typical 12.89) | 12.9 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.29 | 0.3 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 14.03–16.09 (typical 14.03) | 14.0 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 38.13–38.86 (typical 38.86) | 38.9 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 29.77–32.37 (typical 31.82) | 31.8 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.24–0.27 (typical 0.27) | 0.3 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0.74–0.8 (typical 0.8) | 0.8 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 0.18–0.23 (typical 0.21) | 0.2 |
| Behenic acid | C22:0 · saturated | 0.24–0.27 (typical 0.27) | 0.3 |
| Lignoceric acid | C24:0 · saturated | 0.06–0.09 (typical 0.07) | 0.1 |
Where these numbers come from
Table 4 physicochemical indexes of commercial and extracted tamanu oil (acid, peroxide, iodine, saponification values; ISO 660/3960/3961/3657 methods); Table 5 fatty-acid composition by GC (both oils).
Table 1 fatty-acid composition of a commercial Calophyllum seed oil.
Table 1 GC-MS fatty-acid composition (oleic, linoleic, stearic, palmitic major).
Crude oil acid value 36.542 mg KOH/g and free fatty acid content 18.39 % (corroboration of the high free-acid content of crude tamanu oil).
PRIMARY source: Journal of Science Technology and Food (Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry) 20(3), 2020, 54-66, a Vietnamese open-access journal paper (PDF fetched from the Dalat University repository and text-extracted). Table 4 gives two oils: a commercial physically-pressed tamanu oil (acid value 74.40 mg KOH/g, peroxide 3.87 meq O2/kg, iodine value 113.60 g I2/100 g, saponification value 202.00 mg KOH/g) and the authors' ultrasound-assisted solvent-extracted oil (acid value 8.42, peroxide 10.40, iodine value printed as 9.90, saponification value 193.50). The printed iodine value 9.90 for the extracted oil contradicts the paper's own text ('Tamanu oil has higher peroxide and iodine value' than the commercial oil) and is almost certainly a typographical loss of leading digits, so it is NOT used; the iodine 'typical' here is the commercial pressed oil (113.60) and the SAP range spans both oils (193.50-202.00). The very high acid value of the commercial oil (74.40, about 37 % free fatty acids) is characteristic of crude tamanu oil and is corroborated by Polymers 2022 (acid value 36.542 mg KOH/g, FFA 18.39 %); soapmakers should expect crude tamanu to consume lye as free fatty acid rather than as triglyceride. Fatty acids: 'typical' values are the commercial oil column of Table 5 (myristic 0.02, palmitic 12.89, stearic 14.03, arachidic 0.8, behenic 0.27 (labelled C21:0 in the paper), lignoceric 0.07, oleic 38.86, linoleic 31.82, linolenic 0.27, eicosenoic 0.21; total 99.46 %); the extracted-oil column is within 0.4 % of these. Min/max additionally span Antioxidants 2025 Table 1 (commercial tamanu oil: palmitic 15.75, C17:0 0.13, stearic 14.08, arachidic 0.74, behenic 0.24, lignoceric 0.09, palmitoleic 0.29, oleic 38.13, C20:1 0.23, linoleic 29.77, C20:3n3 0.29) and BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 2022 Table 1 (oleic 38.30, linoleic 32.37, stearic 16.09, palmitic 9.86). Unsaponifiable matter was not measured in any document opened (tamanu is known for a large resinous fraction, but no allowed source printed a figure). Melting point not given (liquid oil). INCI name from CosIng.
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