j. Soc. Cosmet. Chem., 37, 501-503 (November/December 1986) Book Reviews THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAPS, OTHER DETERGENTS AND GLYC- ERINE, by Edgar Woollat. Ellis Hor- wood Limited, Publisher, Division of John Wiley & Sons, 1985. Here, indeed, is a book that will find avid readers in practically every country in the world. It is a rare country that is not producing its own soap requirements, and many have sulfonation and spray-drying facilities for production of light-duty and heavy-duty detergents. Engineers, chem- ists, and technicians involved with the manufacture of soap and detergents will welcome this book which gives a good, general overview of the manufacturing processes involved--past and present. It has been a long time since anyone ha• made a serious attempt to cover these sub- jects. Undoubtedly, the best book on soap technology and manufacture by saponifi- cation is that by Davidsohn, Better and Davidsohn entitled "Soap Manufacture" published in the USA in 1953. These au- thors detailed thoroughly the theoretical principles that must be understood as a foundation for studying the practical soap processes, and their scientific treatment of the batch saponification manufacturing process still remains unequaled. The present book by Mr. Woollat is less concerned with the science and tech- nology of soap and detergent manufacture but does cover in a cursory manner those physical principles involved in the various steps of the manufacturing processes de- scribed. The author's expressed purpose is to present the manufacturing processes and equipment requirements for the pro- duction of soaps and detergents as well as for the recovery of glycerine. The soap- manufacturing processes are covered fairly thoroughly as are the glycerine recovery processes, but the sulfonation and spray drying processes for detergent manufac- ture are covered superficially and with little technical detail. For example, sul- fonation-sulfation is covered in 29 pages and manufacturing of detergent powders includes 32 pages, a total of 61 pages, while recovery and refining of glycerine alone encompasses 59 pages. There is much covered in this book. The reader is led into the subject matter by sections covering the terminology used in these fields, followed by a list of the chemicals used in making the many soap and detergent products. Peripheral items such as analytical methods, government regulations, water quality, and biodegrad- ability are also discussed. Included is a section on detergency and the factors that affect cleaning, including the array of sur- factants, hydrotropes, sequestrants, other key ingredients, and the manner in which they contribute to the cleaning process. In presenting the manufacture of soaps by saponification, the oils and fats used are discussed as to their composition, pre- treatment and handling. The classical batch saponification, glycerine extraction, and fitting process is presented in detail along with the standard phase diagrams and basic material balance calculations. The recent developments in continuous saponification soap-making processes are presented with description and flow sheets from the manufacturers of such plants. Soap manufacture from fatty acids is mainly a presentation of the processes and plants offered by several suppliers which 501

502 BOOK REVIEW include fat splitting, fatty acid distilla- tion, and neutralization. The flow sheets generally supplied by the manufacturers are included. The processing of the wet soap into the dried, pressed bars is presented in a gen- eral descriptive manner with very little of a technical nature included. The narrative leads one through the processing steps from the wet soap-drying operation to the milling, extrusion, and bar-pressing stages. The equipment of various sup- pliers is shown accompanied by brief de- scriptions. This broad area of production is treated in a very superficial manner. The section on the recovery and re- fining of glycerine is well done. The au- thor is obviously intimate with this sub- ject and details: (1) the glycerine quality requirements, (2) the analytical proce- dures used, (3) the treatment techniques used in handling the impure glycerine- containing solutions from both the sapon- ification process and the fat-splitting pro- cess, and (4) the evaporation and distilla- tion stages. Descriptions of old processes used and the processes offered by several manufacturers of glycerine recovery plants are presented in a clear and complete manner. A discussion of the physical prin- ciples involved in these operations along with considerations of thermal and glyc- erine recovery assist the reader in under- standing the critical aspects involved. The latter part of the book is devoted to sulfonation, spray drying, and liquid de- tergents, which encompasses 82 pages of the total 440 of the book, a very small portion indeed, considering the impor- tance of--and interest in--these sub- jects. It is clear that the author is not inti- mate with these processes and covers them in a manner that can only be termed su- perficial. Most of the information on sul- fonation can be found in the literature of the manufacturers of detergent plants. Some minor calculations concerning spray tower thermal efficiency, the effect of re- cycling tower exhaust air, and the im- portance of minimum water content in the slurry to be sprayed are the extent to which a technical approach is made. Surveying the book as a whole, it does accomplish its objective of presenting an update of the manufacturing processes and equipment used in the soap and detergent industry. It is an excellent book for a be- ginner in these fields as an introduction to the latest technology available and who the manufacturers of this technology are. It is convenient to have all this informa- tion put together in one book for ready reference. Books of this nature are sorely needed in the soap and detergent in- dustry, but it is hoped that future works will be less wide-ranging and delve much more thoroughly into the theory, thermo- dynamics, and engineering principles in- volved in the individual processes.--SAL- VATORE SILVIS, Ph.D.--Colgate Palmolive Company. EMULSIONS AND SOLUBILIZA- TION, by Kozo Shinoda and Stig Fri- berg. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1986. 174 pages. Price $45.00. Emulsification, solubilization, and emulsion stability are problems that are encountered by practicing cosmetic chemists day by day. A number of clas- sical treaties have discussed these subjects extensively (e.g., P. Becher in Encyclopedia of Emulsion Technology). In this book, the authors choose to emphasize the prepara- tion and properties of emulsions that con- tain mainly non-ionic, polyethylene glycol-type surfactants. The authors state as their principal objective their wish to describe the factors affecting the hydro- phile-lipophile balance (HLB) of surfac- tant in various systems and to define the conditions that are required for achieving optimal HLB values, since optimization of