Did you know that fatty materials, such as animal fats and vegetable oils, will react with alkaline cleaning solutions and that this reaction both reduces the potency of the solution and can generate copious and troublesome foams? The process is called SAPONIFICATION. Fats and oils consists of two distinct parts – glycerine and hydrocarbon chains. When treated with alkali (or acid), the bonds between these parts are broken. This liberates both the glycerine and the hydrocarbon chains or FATTY ACIDS. The fatty acids react with and consume the alkali to form SOAP, reducing the strength of the alkali in the solution and giving rise to foam.
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