ABSTRACT
Agricultural wastes are generated from different sites and most of these materials have not been explored as potential sources of alkalis for black soap production.
The plant materials viz plantain fruit stem, cassava stalks, mango leaves, and the stems of Alchornea and African red peach were investigated for their ash contents, metal contents of which the major considerations were given to potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. This was done by ashing the samples and digesting the ash to quantify the metal contents using flame photometer and AAS.
The results obtained from the analysis showed that plantain fruit stem had the highest ash content of 14.50 ± 0.14 compared to the mango leaves with a value 6.10 ± 0.14. The total sodium and potassium concentrations of 21605mg/kg of the dried sample was found for the plantain fruit stem. The minimum values were found for African red peach stems with values of 1530.20mg/kg and an ash content of 2.22 ± 0.03. The highest calcium and magnesium values were found for plantain fruit stem totaling 2353.51mg/kg of sample.
The black soap was made and from its characterization, a pH of 8 was found. The foam density was very poor and unstable and it was able to stabilize emulsion. It had a good texture on the skin.
In comparison, the plantain fruit stem had the highest potential for black soap production followed by the mango leaves in terms of their alkali metal contents.
