The agricultural wastes, cocoa-pod husks, palm-bunch waste, sorghum chaff a
nd groundnut shells, which are normally thrown away have been used in the p
roduction of black soap. Unlike other soaps which are made from oils and ch
emicals, black soap is made from oils and agro-wastes ashes. Chemical analy
sis indicated that the liquid extract from the ashes of the different agro-
wastes used contained various amounts of potassium and sodium compounds. Th
e most common ingredient in the agro-wastes was potassium carbonate. The am
ount of potassium carbonate was 56.73 +/- 0.16% in cocoa-pod ash. 43.15 +/-
0.13% in palm-bunch ash, 16.65 +/- 0.05% in groundnut shell ash and 12.40
+/- 0.08% in sorghum chaff ash. Soaps made from the agro-wastes ashes had e
xcellent solubility, consistency, cleansing and lathering abilities. (C) 20
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