Chapter 47 Shampoo

When he returned home that night, Xu Qiang began to prepare the shampoo.

Today, Xu Qiang has his own chemistry laboratory with basic laboratory equipment. The only drawback is that the relevant chemical raw materials are difficult to purchase. Currently, he can only rely on Director Wang of the town supply and marketing cooperative for help.

In fact, the method of making shampoo is very simple. The basic ingredients are soap base, distilled water, glycerin, salt and essential oils.

The most important raw material is soap base, which is the cheapest soap we commonly use. The basic production method is to heat animal or plant fats to 50~60℃, add sodium hydroxide to the reactor and stir evenly.

Next, continue to add water and a small amount of sodium hydroxide to the reactor, raise the temperature to 80°C, and stir back and forth to allow it to react fully.

Then add potassium hydroxide, commonly known as caustic soda, and continue to maintain the temperature and stirring frequency until the pH reaches the ideal neutralization range. The purpose of this step is to neutralize the alkaline substance and make it neutral or weakly alkaline.

Finally, the precipitation method is used to remove impurities, debris and moisture to obtain a relatively pure soap base.

In fact, China has known how to make soap with animal fats since ancient times. The most commonly used ingredient at the time was pig pancreas, which contained natural lipase. When it was ground and mixed with caustic soda, the lipase would catalyze the hydrolysis of the fat to produce sodium salt of fatty acid, which is soap.

Therefore, in ancient times, the ancients called soap "pancreas". Even after importing foreign soaps, the Chinese still called it "foreign pancreas".

With the soap base, making shampoo becomes very simple. You just need to cut the soap base into pieces and dissolve it in water.

Then add essential oil and glycerin and stir. Use salt to adjust the thickness of the paste. Finally, bottle it and store it. The whole process is completely based on feeling.

As for another very important raw material of shampoo, fragrance, Xu Qiang also has a corresponding preparation method, but the problem of related chemical raw materials needs to be solved now.

Xu Qiang spent more than an hour in the evening to carefully list a list of raw materials. He planned to make more than 300 kilograms of shampoo cream first. The required raw materials were carefully calculated. It was estimated that even if there was waste, it would not be much. Moreover, if this product was really popular in the factory, Xu Qiang would make a second batch, a third batch in the future...

Strictly speaking, making shampoo requires an important chemical instrument, that is, the reactor. In later generations, reactors are the most commonly used chemical equipment, with functions such as corrosion resistance, high pressure resistance, automatic temperature control, automatic loading, etc., and the price is not very expensive.

However, it is very difficult for individuals to buy such chemical equipment these days. The only way Xu Qiang could think of to replace the reactor is to use the large iron pot at home, heat it with an earthen stove, and then adjust the temperature with a thermometer and cold water. This should be able to replace some of the functions of the reactor.

After finishing the list of raw materials, Xu Qiang finally went to sleep peacefully and prepared for the night shift...

……

The next morning, Xu Qiang rode his bicycle to the town supply and marketing cooperative.

"You...are you planning to come up with some new product?"

When Wang Zhong saw the list of chemical raw materials that Xu Qiang handed to him, he was stunned for a moment, then asked.

"That's right. Nothing can be hidden from Director Wang." Xu Qiang smiled slightly, and then said, "Actually, I want to produce some shampoo myself and see if I can sell it." Facing Wang Zhong, Xu Qiang did not hide his thoughts. After all, there was no commercial competition between the two, and they were also important partners, so Xu Qiang was directly frank about this matter.

"Shampoo? You can also make this thing?" Wang Zhong looked surprised.

"I'm just giving it a try this time. Whether it will be successful is another matter..." Xu Qiang smiled slightly and continued, "Why? Is Director Wang interested in this product?"

"This... I think let's just forget it." Wang Zhong pondered for a moment and finally shook his head.

Wang Zhong had known about shampoo cream several years ago, but until now, he still had no intention of purchasing it.

The reason is very simple. On the one hand, shampoo is still a daily chemical product that has been launched in China for a short time. Currently, it is only produced by a few limited daily chemical factories in Tianjin, Shanghai and BJ. The output is not large and is only enough to meet the supply in their local cities. If you want to purchase it from other places, it is somewhat difficult.

In addition, shampoo cream is much more expensive than ordinary laundry detergent and soap. It is a high-end daily chemical product that only residents of big cities can afford. As for the locals, most of them usually use alkaline noodles or laundry detergent to wash their hair, and shampoo cream is far from popular.

The town supply and marketing cooperative has always been responsible for the important task of local material supply, so all the goods sold here must meet the needs and consumption habits of local people. Things that are too expensive are difficult to sell and will take up valuable shelf space, so Wang Zhong is indeed not interested in the shampoo product.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just trying to produce it. Whether it will be successful or not is another matter." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"Okay, that's your business. I wish you success." Wang Zhong nodded and continued, "I can help you with this, but the fertilizers here are selling too fast recently. The few tons of humic acid you sent last week have already been cleared out..."

"Director Wang, don't worry. I will have someone deliver the goods this afternoon. I still have three or four tons of humic acid. Now the workers are working overtime to try to supply you more." Xu Qiang said, patting his chest.

After all, fertilizer is still the most important thing to maintain the business cooperation between Xu Qiang and Wang Zhong. If there were no such relationship, Wang Zhong would probably not be so enthusiastic to help Xu Qiang purchase various chemical raw materials. Xu Qiang knows this very well and has been trying his best to increase the production of humic acid.

"Then come over tomorrow morning. I'll send someone to the Materials Bureau. They have a lot of chemical raw materials in stock, including this essence... I'm afraid we don't have it here."

"It's okay if there's no fragrance. I wrote it on the note. All I need is the raw materials for synthetic fragrance. I can make it myself." Xu Qiang said.

The essence that Xu Qiang mentioned can be said to be the key raw material for making shampoo.

Flavors are divided into natural flavors and synthetic flavors. The former is difficult to extract and has a high cost, which is basically a hundred times the cost of synthetic flavors! Therefore, whether in China or abroad, synthetic flavors are commonly used.

In addition, in the current domestic market, there are very few specialized fragrance companies, and their products are only supplied in a targeted manner. It is still very difficult to buy such products on the market.

But as long as he has the relevant raw materials, Xu Qiang can also synthesize fragrances himself, thereby improving the grade and use effect of his own daily chemical products, thus turning stones into gold for the products...

(End of this chapter)