Hi folks,

I read a thing today that sodium lauryl sulphate is another name for palm oil. The only references a quick google comes up with are at the sort of website I find to be of questionable reliability.

Does anyone here know if this is fact, half-truth, sometimes true, or just nonsense?

Thanks.

Well, sodium laureth sulphate is not another name for palm oil, or anything like it.

Thanks dv. I sort of thought as much. A total lack of mention in Wikipedia was a bit of a red flag on that, and some of the websites that claim it to be so have the word ‘truth’ in their name, which is always a red flag for me!

According to Wikipedia…

Sodium dodecyl sulfate, synonymously sodium lauryl sulfate (or laurilsulfate; SDS or SLS, respectively), is a synthetic organic compound with the formula CH311SO4Na. It is an anionic surfactant used in many cleaning and hygiene products. The sodium salt is of an organosulfate class of organics. It consists of a 12-carbon tail attached to a sulfate group, i.e., it is the sodium salt of dodecyl hydrogen sulfate, the ester of dodecyl alcohol and sulfuric acid. Its hydrocarbon tail combined with a polar “headgroup” give the compound amphiphilic properties and so make it useful as a detergent. Also derived as a component of mixtures produced from inexpensive coconut and palm oils, SDS is a common component of many domestic cleaning, personal hygiene and cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food products, as well as of industrial and commercial cleaning and product formulations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dodecyl_sulfate

So partially true, then. Thanks fsm.

Mad Man Moon said:

Thanks dv. I sort of thought as much. A total lack of mention in Wikipedia was a bit of a red flag on that, and some of the websites that claim it to be so have the word ‘truth’ in their name, which is always a red flag for me!

I suppose I can provide a bit more information to make the thread worth your while.

Palm oil is a vegetable oil derived from an oil palm. It consists mainly of esters of longish fatty acids, with 14 carbons, 16 carbons, 18 carbons, 20carbons. It is a mixture of a lot of compounds, but mostly those esters. It contains only hydrogen and carbon and a small amount of oxygen.

Sodium laureth sulphate is the sodium salt of an organosulphate ester. It contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur and sodium. It is used as a surfactant (detergent).

well, ‘partially true’ according to the latest wiki update which may be influenced by personal stance..

Question book-new.svg This scientific article needs additional citations to secondary or tertiary sources such as review articles, monographs, or textbooks. Please add references to provide context and establish notability for any primary research articles cited. (March 2016)

Mad Man Moon said:

So partially true, then. Thanks fsm.

I am going to say fully false.

To say that some SLS is manufactures from palm oil is not at all to imply that SLS = palm oil, any more than it is true to say that coal is the same thing as PVC.

Sorry, I suppose I should’ve given a context to my question.

Enviro/sustainability group at work is looking at dishwasher tablet options, and was rejecting an otherwise good product because it contained ‘sodium laurel (sic) sulphate, which is another name for palm oil.’

Set my woo-meter off right away. ☺

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) is an anionic surfactant naturally derived from coconut and/or palm kernel oil.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Sodium_dodecyl_sulfate#section=Top

dv said:

To say that some SLS is manufactures from palm oil is not at all to imply that SLS = palm oil, any more than it is true to say that coal is the same thing as PVC.

Indeed, that was my take on it, too — hence the ‘partially true’ (the partial being a very tiny part).

Mad Man Moon said:

Sorry, I suppose I should’ve given a context to my question.

Enviro/sustainability group at work is looking at dishwasher tablet options, and was rejecting an otherwise good product because it contained ‘sodium laurel (sic) sulphate, which is another name for palm oil.’

Set my woo-meter off right away. ☺

Well you can tell them it’s from coconut oil so it’s all good ;)

poikilotherm said:

Mad Man Moon said:

Sorry, I suppose I should’ve given a context to my question.

Enviro/sustainability group at work is looking at dishwasher tablet options, and was rejecting an otherwise good product because it contained ‘sodium laurel (sic) sulphate, which is another name for palm oil.’

Set my woo-meter off right away. ☺

Well you can tell them it’s from coconut oil so it’s all good ;)

… and Wikipedia seems to indicate that it’s sometimes synthetic as well.

Mad Man Moon said:

poikilotherm said:

Mad Man Moon said:

Sorry, I suppose I should’ve given a context to my question.

Enviro/sustainability group at work is looking at dishwasher tablet options, and was rejecting an otherwise good product because it contained ‘sodium laurel (sic) sulphate, which is another name for palm oil.’

Set my woo-meter off right away. ☺

Well you can tell them it’s from coconut oil so it’s all good ;)

… and Wikipedia seems to indicate that it’s sometimes synthetic as well.

It’s always synthetic, it doesn’t exist naturally afaik. It is produced from the lauryl alcohols found in coconut or palm kernels.

Mad Man Moon said:

Sorry, I suppose I should’ve given a context to my question.

Enviro/sustainability group at work is looking at dishwasher tablet options, and was rejecting an otherwise good product because it contained ‘sodium laurel (sic) sulphate, which is another name for palm oil.’

Set my woo-meter off right away. ☺

As indeed it should have

Has someone pointed out yet that “sodium lauryl sulphate” and “sodium laureth sulphate” are different chemicals? Both are used for the same purpose but they’re not synonyms.

mollwollfumble said:

Has someone pointed out yet that “sodium lauryl sulphate” and “sodium laureth sulphate” are different chemicals? Both are used for the same purpose but they’re not synonyms.

Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), an accepted contraction (Lauryl + Ether = Laureth) of sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), is an anionic detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste etc.). SLES is an inexpensive and very effective foaming agent. SLES, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), ammonium lauryl sulfate (ALS), and sodium pareth sulfate are surfactants that are used in many cosmetic products for their cleaning and emulsifying properties. They behave similarly to soap.