Teach Soap

There were several articles lately in local papers about a woman who is using used cooking oils from restaurants for her soaps. I'm curious if others are doing this and what your feelings are. I would be worried about DOS. We did a show the weekend the article came out and were questioned many times if our oils were used or not. Everyone was pretty relieved when we told them no fish sticks have ever been in our soap.

I will never use used or recycled oils for selling soap. I tell my customers that I want the best for them and use the freshest oils possible. My mother owned a restaurant. If you knew what got dropped into those used oils, you would never touch a bar made from it. The SAP value is also difficult if it's a blend of different oils. The soap is more prone to DOS, due to the high heat the oils were exposed to. Those oils are already oxidized.

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

It does not sound like something I'd want to do personally. My first thoughts are that I'd have no idea what was in it or the quality of it, both to start with and what's left of it after it's discarded. Recycling is good and all, but there are better applications for used restaurant oils than body products I'd think.

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"Effective questioning brings insight which fuels curiosity which cultivates wisdom"

Thanks! Those are my thoughts as well. We did a show right after the articles and the news story. People started coming in.. asking if we were the ones they saw in the news, and was our soap used.. (usually a face was made when they said it). I told them oh no, our products are all very fresh. It was our best show all season! I too am all for a green planet but....

Slightly OT, but this is what bothers me about biodiesel. Glycerin produced during the biodiesel process is crude and unrefined. Crude glycerin produced in small scale biodiesel operations typically contains unreacted oil, catalyst, methanol (if not recovered during processing) and some biodiesel. Glycerin and biodiesel are generally considered as environmentally friendly, but the catalyst and methanol contained in crude glycerin are not. Your alternatives for disposing of crude glycerin may be limited. It is not safe as compost, nor is it safe as feedstock.

Is the methanol re-captured? Do they have a ventable glycerol storage container until there is a large enough load to do a methanol distillation batch? Methanol is a neurotoxin, and can be toxic in small amounts. It can be absorbed through skin, as well as lungs, ingestion, and contact with the eyes. It attacks various internal organs, particularly hard on the eyes. Overexposure to vapor can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, etc. Also highly flammable.

Many small scale biodiesel producers end up with a glut of crude biodiesel glycerol (CBG) and it ends up dumped down the drain, into landfills, in the woods, burnt, and worse. This is not considered acceptable by the responsible biodiesel community. Some soapmakers use the crude glycerol in their soapmaking. I would not want that on my skin. Commercially made glycerin has none of the additives that biodiesel glycerin produces.

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