History of Alkali:
Legend has it there was a sacrificial altar on Mount Sapo that was surrounded, as is typical in such environments, by ashes and animal remains. When storms came the rain would send this mixture of animal fat and ash down the slopes of Mount Sapo into the banks of the Tiber River below where women were washing their clothes. These women realized their clothes were cleaner after a storm, spawning the use of soap as a cleaner.[1]

Soap is an alkali and, legend aside, it was most probably first discovered much earlier in the history of the world. Even the first hunters would have noticed a crude mixture of alkali as rain mixed with ash in their fire pits to create potassium hydroxide (potash). Then, as animal fat dripped from a fresh kill, they would have discovered soap.[2] Indeed, an excavation of ancient Babylon shows evidence that soap was actively produced as early as 2800 B.C. The Ebers papyrus, an Egyptian medical text dating to 1550 B.C.,[3] further supports the early discovery and use of soap-like solutions.[4] Soap, while serving a crucial role in the medical industry, is also an important element within the cleaning industry; particularly food service which uses alkaline cleaning products that combine with animal fats[5] to create soap.[6] Continue reading →