Sugar soap

Sugar soap is a cleaning material, commonly composed of sodium carbonate, sodium phosphate, and sometimes sodium silicate as an abrasive; other chemicals might be added to modify the performance or preserve the product. The dry powder looks like table sugar, which gives it its name. The term appears to be used with regard to a cleaning material, mainly in Commonwealth countries.

The solution is alkaline and its uses include cleaning paintwork in preparation for repainting. (An alternative to prepare paintwork for painting is to clean the painted surface with "household ammonia" or ammonium hydroxide, which is a solution of NH₃ in water.)

The above mentioned substances attributed as being part of "sugar soap" resemble trisodium phosphate.

Country-specific information

United Kingdom

The precise ingredients and their proportions vary between manufacturers and suppliers. Reference should be made to the correct supplier's Material Safety Data Sheet; these are available on the websites of major suppliers but are anyway usually required to be supplied free to users of the products when requested . The products are freely available for domestic use in the UK, being commonly sold for preparing surfaces for redecoration, stripping certain types of wallpaper, removing accumulations of grease in kitchens or removal of tar deposits caused by tobacco-smoking.

United States

The comparable product in the USA is TSP. However, due to environmental concerns about the impact of phosphorus on lakes and streams, products labeled TSP may not actually contain any trisodium phosphate.

The product "Sugar Soap" found in the USA is a cosmetic product. If sugar is actually used in that product it would help natural soaps generate more lather ().

References