Chemistry: Making soap

Alkaline hydrolysis of esters - production

also called saponification
add sunflower oil into flask
add NaOH
add Ethanol to dissolve fat
add anti bumping granules
reflux for 30 minutes

reasons for reflux

prevents loss of volatile reactants (ethanol)
allows time for slow reaction to take place

Alkaline hydrolysis of esters - distillation

rearrannge for distillation
distill off alcohol which
cool and pour contents of flask into conc. brine solution
soap insoluble in brine so it percipitates out
filter mixture by vaccum filteration
rinse with cold deionised water to remove NaOH
excess NaOH and glycerol stay in solution and pass through to the filter

animal fats, plamt fats

animal fats are saturated
plant fats are unsaturated
unsaturated fats do not produce cholestrol