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Legal Eagle

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  1. Sorry to have sounded like an infomercial. I've been at biodiesel glycerine soap making for about 6 years now and can honestly say that I wouldn't go back to any other type. Seeing as how some have a good grip on what transpires during the transesterification of used cooking oil I'll try to keep it shop talk and brief. As noted, during the biodiesel process methyl alocohol is used along with either KOH or NaOH as the catalysing caustic. What this has as an effect is to "crack" the vegetable oil into the esters section which is what is used as biodiesel, be it 100% or along with any percentage blend with the pump stuff.It is completely miscible with pump diesel just like vodka and water. Ok, during the reaction the Di,Tri and Mono glycerides which comprise the viscous elements of vegetable oil attach to the caustic mix and drop out of solution along withthe level of FFA's found in the oil. The more used the oil is them higher the FFA count. (How much caustic tp use is determined by a simple titration and that is added to a known base amount in order to achieve a complete reaction and give high quality fuel. The transesterification (making biodiesel) process is such that most of the saponification of the saponifiable elements in the breakaway layer of glycerides and FFA's is already done, but is not complete. What we do is then finish the job by pushing it a little with the use of additional caustic. This caustic generally ranges between 20-25% of the oil's original SAP or for the most part 30g NaOH for nar soap and 40g KOH for liquid. That is per litre of glycerine layer. I only use essential oils for scenting and it has worked extremely well. OK, now what some may see as a health concern, as we do use used cooking oil for the biodiesel process. he oil is firstly filtered to remove any particulates down to dust levels and then reacted. The subsequent glycerine layer then contains the methyl alcohol and caustic used up during the porcess. Methanol is a no no so it has to be removed from the mixture before any soap making attempt can be had. The removal of the methanol is done via a simple still, either pot or reflux depending on how fancy you want to get. This is done not only for the sake ofd the soap but also so thatthe supplemental alcohol can then be reused in the next biodiesel batch (waste not...). The glycerine is distilled for the better part of a day. I distill 30L for 8 hours at a pot temp of 266F. This not only drives out any methanol in the mix but serves to also sterilise the glycerine of any potential impurities that *may* be left after having been subjected to a 2 hour 130F degree reaction temp and time in hot caustic alocohol. A medical autoclave uses 266F for 13 minutes and the instruments are considered sterilised as a comparison. So, what we have is what is considered a disposable product coming from restaurants (mine never sees the out of doors, but is put in closed containers straight from the fryer) and then we take that product and turn it into 2 separate practical and useful eco-friendly products; one being fuel for diesel vehicles and home heating applications and one of the others is soap. At home we use our biodiesel glycerine soap for body and hair (replaces shampoo), the dishes, the laundry,as a bathroom scrub for toilet tub and sink (along with a cup of javel once a week in the loo as it is not antibacterial), a car wash soap, general hand degreaser in place of Go-Jo or some other such shop "dry wash", and also as a stain pretreatment for those stubborn stains that won't come out any other way. Spray and Wash can't hold a candle to it. Our yearly savings in soap alone is over $5-600.00 and there is just the two of us. In he area of this type of soap making I am what has been called a "purist" in that I only use the absolute barest minimum of chemical additives (like the caustic used) and only essential oils for scenting. I discourage the use of synthetic acids and chemical bleaches due to serious health concerns. I've taken a lot of flack over that stand but that's my position. Right now our team is working on a Universal SAP program, a small application that allows you to determine the exact SAP value in any given acid, be it whole new oil, used cooking oil, the biodiesel glycerine layer of mixed feedstock or even wild game fat. It is in it's BETA stages right now and we hope to make it publicly available once the testing is done and we are sure all the bugs are worked out and it does what we claim it does. So far so good though; preliminary testing has been very positive using biodiesel glycerine and also whole new oils. I'll be a distributor for it once it is ready to go. My website is posted in the former post for any who might be interested. Hope that helps clear up some ??'s.
  2. I just happened upon this older thread, and after reading through it figured I could bring it up to date. I am the author of "Biodiesel Glycerine Soap - The Guide" as well as a 6 year veteran of homebased biodiesel production. The Guide is a 62 page introduction to making soap from the biodiesel glycerine layer and is on 5 continents making of it the world's most read book (PDF) on using the biodiesel glycerine in soap making. http://www.blackcrownsoap.com is my website. Many people who have had experience with modern soap making do not at first understand how this is possible,and while there are some precautions that need to be taken, such as the complete removal of the methyl alcohol from the mix using a simple to make condensing unit, the process is pretty straight forward. Where the confusion registers is in the low amount of caustic required to do the job. (30g NaOH/litre of glycerine for bars and 40g/litre for liquid) I am one of the only people to ever accomplish making liquid soap using nothing but sodium hydroxide as the caustic with a canola based glycerine layer. It is called a "glycerine layer" because it does not only contain glycerine,which you know is a clear substance, but that is also where all the free fatty acids (FFA's) that were once in the cooking oil (yes, we use used cooking oil) and the DI,TRI and MONO glycerides end up. The main goal is to produce biodiesel or it's more technical name Methyl Esters, however the welcomed secondary product is soap; the kind of soap you have never seen before. It's ability to clean is unsurmounted by ANY commercial or handcrated soap out there, and part of this is in no small part due to the concentration of the above mentioned in a percentage layer of what used to be whole oil. The reason so little caustic can be used is due to the fact that most of the saponification process is accomplished during the biodiesel reaction (technical word = transesterification) and all that is left is to push the saponification reaction a bit to complete it. I have not only written The Guide but have also used my soaps in the shower as a body and hair soap replacing shampoo, we use it for washing dishes, the car,the bathroom toilet sink and tub (a cup of javel once a week in the toilet as it is not antibacterial - a good thing if you are health consious) and last but not least it has also replaced our laundry detergent. On average we save upwards of $5-600.00 a year on soaps we no longer need to buy and there are but 2 of us. The bigger the family the greater the savings. There are imitators, but there is only one The Guide. I welcome comments and questions, and will reply as soon as time permits. Thanks for letting me introduce myself. Luc
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