Teach Soap

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"Daddy, help me with this science project. It will only take a minute."

Hi and welcome!

I know nothing about soaping, yet (I am just now perfecting my lotions and lip balms), but am interested in trying it in the near future.

I did want to say AWESOME on the bio-fuels!! How are they working out for you??

I am an environmental science major in my senior year, and we have been talking a lot about alternate fuel sources lately. And bio-fuels seem the coolest to me. You get donuts AND fuel for your car. What a great system!!!

Welcome!
Is there any chance you could get the glycerin tested? After all, it does go on your skin. I'm no expert on bio-diesel, but I have been making soaps for many years.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi and Welcome bio-d-soaper. Very interesting topic.
Have you made soap yet ?

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Paula
EVERY ACCOMPLISHMENT STARTS WITH THE DECISION TO TRY.

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Debbie Chialtas

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The most frequently asked question I've gotten this year has got to be about making soap from biodiesel glycerin. Glycerin is a natural byproduct from the biodiesel refining process. In the photo above, the glycerin is on the right. The biodisel is on the left. I personally would not ever use this glycerin as an ingredient in soap but there are a lot of people that would like to, purity concerns be damned. I am posting my thoughts on this interesting subject for all to see, in the hopes that it educates and possibly stems the endless tide of "I know this is a really strange question, but I make biodiesel and I was wondering ...." emails.

I do not personally recommend making soap with the byproduct glycerin from biodiesel manufacturing as I don't think it's entirely clean and pure and has some extra things like methanol in it. So, you might consider testing yours to be on the safe side. However, we do have a local customer in Bellingham, WA that does make a soft, smushy, gray looking bar of solid, slightly lathering soap with their byproduct bio-diesel. They have shared a bar with me and while it is soap, it is very soft and fairly poor in terms of lather. This is probably due to the fact that it is 100% glycerin which is not entirely saponifiable by lye.

If you really want to use the byproduct glycerin, I would recommend a more modified, traditional recipe such as:

16 oz. Coconut Oil
16 oz. Palm Oil
32 oz. Olive Oil
16 oz. liquid Glycerin

Lye 9.4 oz.

Water 16 ounces

Please not that you must do a certain amount of safety precautions to make lye and I strongly recommend researching how to make cold process soap prior to attempting to make it. My favorite books The SoapMaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch to learn about soapmaking or The Natural Soap Book, also by Susan Miller Cavitch. My favorite DVD on the subject (by moi) would also be a good starting point for learning how to make CP soap.

The recipe above will be soft but will lather decently and last much longer than 100% glycerin soap.

Also, you might think about other things like fire-starters with your by-product liquid glycerin.

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Thank you all for the warm welcome.
I have made soap from the glycerin. It took a couple batches to get the temps right (not too hot) and the correct amount of water.
The glycerine in its "raw" form does have residule methanol and lye that remains after the transesterfication process. The methanol must be distilled out and any remaining lye must be taken into consideration when calculating the amount of lye/fat-oil ratio. That is the tricky part! I will make a batch of cold process and one "cooked" batch to use as a base; then mill/rebatch to add essential oils etc. Yes, even when using sodium hydroxide lye the soap can be soft. Adding other "hard" fats like coconut oil helps to harden the soap. The hardest part for me will be waiting while the base soap "cures"

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"Daddy, help me with this science project. It will only take a minute."

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http://www.magichandsworkshop.com
http://www.magichands.etsy.com
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Well,


Lots of folks make "fire starters" and such from the by-product. There is a group that is or rather becoming larger in making soaps from glycerin.

One very effective type of soap is a hand degreaser for those mechanics. Believe it or not, not all the guys you have working on your cars want to use synthetic alcohol drenched petroleum based hand cleaners. especially when they see how effective the liquid glycerin degreaser is!

I will keep everyone posted on my successes... and failures.

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"Daddy, help me with this science project. It will only take a minute."

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi,

As an update on where we are with the bio-d glycerin soap.

It is really wonderful stuff!

If you don't superfat the soap, the bars don't get really hard.

Gell hand soap is easy to make and works wonders on that tough grease.

Yes, all of the methanol has to be removed from the glycerin first.

Coloring is easy if you want brown......... Or, very dark amber. Or, dark greenish-brown. You get the picture.

This stuff IS what your grandmothers made. However, with the essential oils and superfatting techniques, it becomes a better more sophisticated soap.

Is it as nice and refined as some of the soaps you all make? No. Maybe. Sort of. It depends on your market. I nailed my market the first go-round.
Stay tuned....

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"Daddy, help me with this science project. It will only take a minute."

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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"Daddy, help me with this science project. It will only take a minute."

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.