Pecan oil: SAP value and fatty acids
Pecan oil has a saponification value of 187.14 mg KOH/g. One gram needs 0.133 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for bar soap or 0.187 g of potassium hydroxide (KOH) for liquid soap to turn fully into soap, before any superfat.
Key numbers
- SAP, NaOH
- 0.133409 g per g oil
- SAP, KOH
- 0.18714 g per g oil
- Saponification value
- 187.14 mg KOH/g
- INCI name
- Carya Illinoinensis Seed Oil
Example: 100 g of Pecan oil with no superfat needs 13.3 g of 100% NaOH, or 18.7 g of 100% KOH. A 5% superfat uses 5% less.
In soap
Its main fatty acids in our cited profile are oleic (64%) and linoleic (25.9%). The eight fatty acids used in soap-quality scores make up 99.6% of the profile.
On its own it scores 9 for hardness, 0 for cleansing and 91 for conditioning, with a saturated : unsaturated split of 9 : 91.
Few independent numbers exist for pecan oil. Values cluster around 184–194; check your supplier's COA. Published sources for this oil differ by more than 3%, so checking your supplier's certificate of analysis matters more than usual.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | % of fatty acids | Counts toward |
|---|---|---|
| lauric | 0% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| myristic | 0.1% | hardness, cleansing, bubbly lather |
| palmitic | 6% | hardness, creamy lather |
| stearic | 2.4% | hardness, creamy lather |
| ricinoleic | 0% | conditioning, bubbly and creamy lather |
| oleic | 64% | conditioning |
| linoleic | 25.9% | conditioning |
| linolenic | 1.2% | conditioning |
Basis: Dean 2025 Table 1, commercial cold-pressed pecan oil (single analysis); lauric not reported, recorded as 0.
Soap-quality scores (this oil alone)
| Hardness | 9 |
|---|---|
| Cleansing | 0 |
| Conditioning | 91 |
| Bubbly lather | 0 |
| Creamy lather | 8 |
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: 187.14 mg KOH/g (Median of sources' mgKoh_mid (no Codex/pharmacopoeia standard found)), from Oro T. (2007) Composição nutricional, compostos bioativos e vida útil de noz e óleo extra-virgem de noz-pecã [Carya illinoinensis] (MSc dissertation), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (institutional repository). Printed value: 184,29 (printed as 'g/100g') mg KOH/g.
Published values we checked:
- 184,29 (printed as 'g/100g') mg KOH/g — Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (institutional repository)
- 186-194 mg KOH/g — Bulk Natural Oils / Jedwards International (supplier)
Fatty acids: Dean L.L. (2025) Lipid composition and nutritional quality of some commercially available cold pressed oils. Front. Nutr. 12:1721761. doi:10.3389/fnut.2025.1721761, Frontiers (open access, peer-reviewed; USDA-ARS author). Also checked: Elsevier (open access, peer-reviewed) (Table 1, six extraction methods).
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.
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