In this study, the structural characteristics and thermal degradation behaviour of barium, calcium and zinc soaps of hemp seed oil prepared using the metathesis method are reported. Scanning electron micrographs of the metal soaps showed similar plate-like microstructures and are indicative of an orderly packed particulate structure. The thermal decomposition consisted of one single step on the weight loss – temperature curves located around 250 – 450 oC for all the divalent metal soaps at the various heating rates and the weight loss occurring at temperatures up to 200 oC was less than 10%. The average values of the apparent activation energy obtained for the thermal decomposition of metal soaps of HSO were 18.73 kJ/mol for Zn-HSO, 13.77 kJ/mol for Ca-HSO and 8.48 kJ/mol for Ba-HSO.

Keywords: Hemp (Cannabis sativa) seed oil, metal soaps, morphology, thermal degradation, activation energy