uilders and other ingredients are added. The mix is pressed, dried then; it is mixed a final time, milled, and placed in the last plodder. The finished soap is cut into bars, stamped, and wrapped.
             Unlike soap saponifying fats or oils do not prepare detergents; they are manufactured in chemical plants. Their surface-active molecules are generally long chains with atoms or groups of atoms added to give the molecule its surface-active properties. Various complex industrial processes may be used to attach these atoms to the molecules.
             The chemical reacts with hydrocarbons derived from petroleum or fats and oils to produce new acids similar to fatty acids. A second reaction adds an alkali to the new acids to produce one type of anionic surfactant molecule.
             Nonionic surfactant molecules are produced by first converting the hydrocarbon to an alcohol and then reacting the fatty alcohol with ethylene oxide. These nonionic surfactants can be reacted further with sulfur-containing acids to form another type of anionic surfactant.
             Soaps contain a non-polar hydrocarbon end that dissolves grease (hydrophobic end) and a polar end, which dissolves in water (hydrophilic end). The hydrocarbon end is a long chain of fatty acids.
             Structural formula of a typical soap, sodium octadecanoate, is:
             Sodium sulfonates make up the most common group of detergents. Sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate was one of the earliest detergents. Its molecules have a long chain of hydrocarbons linked carbon atoms with two hydrogen atoms attached to each carbon atom. The chain is n
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