Project Report on Consumer Preferences towards Soaps Market

History of Soaps

Soaps have been known for at least for 2,300 years. The Phoenicians prepared it from goats fellow & woods ashes in 600 B.C. & it has been used as an article of barter. Soap was also known in roman empire. Earlier soap was used as a medicine & its use as for washing & cleaning was not recognized until the second century. After Christ the first English soap maker appeared. At the end of 12th century in British soap makers had to pay tax in London & this high tax was abolished in 1853. Early soap makers probably used ashes & animal fats. The soaps were made by boiling & evaporating the mixture of plant ashes containing Potassium Carbonate, fat & water. But now a days, hot caustic alkali solution such as Caustic Soda, acts on natural fats or oils such as vegetable oil to produce sodium fatty & salt (soap) & glycerin. The saponification reaction is the basis for all soap making of industrially produced fatty acid are used in place of natural fats then the water is produced instead of glycerin.

The major raw material for soap manufacture are fat & alkali. Other substances, such as optical brightness, water softness (like ethylene diamine tetracetic acid) and abrasives are often used to obtain specific characteristics. All the techniques used for manufacturing soap require heat. The various processes used for manufacturing the soaps are boiling process, continuous soap making - the hydrolyser process, cold and semi boiled process and in the last are finished operations.

Soap is a basic consumer need and have an age old tradition. Our ancestors obtained the basic chemical reactions which occur in modern soap-making simply by combining fat remnants with wood ashes. Continuing scientific discoveries and social changes, over the year been greatly responsible for the developments that have taken place in the industry since, and brought soap, once a luxury, within the reach of everyone.

Title : Project Report on Consumer Preferences towards Soaps Market