Unilever Laboratory Experiments

This series of guides to experiments was published by Unilever between 1964 and 1973. The experiments were adapted from procedures used in Unilever laboratories at the time to show the relevance of basic and applied research in the development and testing of new consumer products. The experiments relate to topics in advanced level chemistry courses. In many of the experiments the procedures are challenging. In some instances the methods could not be followed today without adaptation because of the hazardous chemicals involved.

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The Preparation of Soap

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment describes the preparation of soap from a mixture of cooking oil and dripping. The leaflet was first published in 1964 and so lacks modern safety guidance. The procedure is authentic; it is designed to produce a convincing sample of soap. This means that it could be the basis of...

The Preparation of Sodium Alkyl Benzene Sulphonate

The method of preparation of a sulphonate paste described in this Unilever Laboratory Experiment is basically the same as that used by Unilever in the large-scale production of soapless detergents at the time of publication in 1964. The required reactants included an alkylbenzene hydrocarbon supplied by the...

The Hydrogenation of Soft Oils

Details of this challenging experiment were published in this leaflet from the Unilever Laboratory Experiment in 1965. Requirements included a pyrophoric nickel catalyst supplied by Unilever, hydrogen from a cylinder and a vegetable oil treated with activated charcoal to remove impurities. The necessary apparatus...

Determination of the Total Hardness of Water

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1970, describes the procedure for a titration with EDTA and Eriochrome Black T to determine the total hardness of water. The details cover the preparation of a standard solution of EDTA as well as the steps of the titration.

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