Horse oil (horse fat): SAP value and fatty acids
Horse oil (horse fat) has a saponification value of 200 mg KOH/g. One gram needs 0.143 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for bar soap or 0.200 g of potassium hydroxide (KOH) for liquid soap to turn fully into soap, before any superfat.
Key numbers
- SAP, NaOH
- 0.142577 g per g oil
- SAP, KOH
- 0.2 g per g oil
- Saponification value
- 200 mg KOH/g
- Iodine value
- 80
- INS
- 120
- INCI name
- Horse Fat
Example: 100 g of Horse oil (horse fat) with no superfat needs 14.3 g of 100% NaOH, or 20.0 g of 100% KOH. A 5% superfat uses 5% less.
In soap
Its main fatty acids in our cited profile are oleic (35.6%) and palmitic (30.5%). The eight fatty acids used in soap-quality scores make up 90.3% of the profile.
On its own it scores 39 for hardness, 5 for cleansing and 51 for conditioning, with a saturated : unsaturated split of 39 : 51.
Rendered horse fat. Only one official spec (Japan, quasi-drug standard) gives a SAP range; it is wide (190–210). Use your supplier's COA if you have one. Only one published source was found for this value; confirm it against your supplier's certificate of analysis.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | % of fatty acids | Counts toward |
|---|---|---|
| lauric | 0% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| myristic | 5.4% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| palmitic | 30.5% | hardness, creamy lather |
| stearic | 3.5% | hardness, creamy lather |
| ricinoleic | 0% | conditioning, bubbly and creamy lather |
| oleic | 35.6% | conditioning |
| linoleic | 10.7% | conditioning |
| linolenic | 4.6% | conditioning |
Basis: Anneke et al. 2024 (Food Sci Anim Resour, doi:10.5851/kosfa.2024.e19) Table 3, column CON (supercritical-CO2-extracted horse oil, no deodorant). Oleic = C18:1n9 33.70 + vaccenic C18:1n7 1.87; linolenic = ALA 4.57 + GLA 0.02. Lauric not reported (set 0)..
Soap-quality scores (this oil alone)
| Hardness | 39 |
|---|---|
| Cleansing | 5 |
| Conditioning | 51 |
| Bubbly lather | 5 |
| Creamy lather | 34 |
| Iodine | 80 |
| INS | 120 |
Each score adds up certain fatty acids, the way Soap Ledger scores a whole recipe. They are for comparing recipes; they don't predict how a bar will feel, and they say nothing about safety or skin.
Sources
SAP value: 200 mg KOH/g (JSQI 2021 range midpoint), from Japanese Standards of Quasi-drug Ingredients 2021 (医薬部外品原料規格2021), PSEHB notification 0325-1 of 25 March 2021, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan). Printed value: 190～210 mg KOH/g.
Published values we checked:
Fatty acids and iodine: Characteristics of Purified Horse Oil by Supercritical Fluid Extraction with Different Deodorants Agents, Food Science of Animal Resources (KoSFA), open access, PMC11097038. Also checked: MDPI, open access, PMC6471125 (Table 1, HO-I and HO-II); Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan) (Monograph 馬油 Horse Oil).
NaOH and KOH values are converted from mg KOH/g with the molar masses 39.997 and 56.106 and rounded to 6 decimals, exactly as in the Soap Ledger app. Real oils vary by origin, grade and lot: check your supplier's certificate of analysis. Verify every weight before you make this, and follow lye safety. Not a safety or compliance certification.
Last updated .