saponification
The chemical process of turning fats or oils into soap and glycerol by reacting them with a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. This reaction is fundamentally a hydrolysis of an ester (triglyceride) that breaks it down into a salt of a fatty acid (soap) and an alcohol (glycerol). It is the traditional and industrial method for manufacturing soap. (Kremer, 2025)