Biodiesel Glycerin Soap (BDG) Examples

[knicelyr]

Re: i am interested

iam a newbie to soap making but this sounds very interesting. and environmentally friendly as well. it makes a very nice looking bar of soap as well

Thanks qetesh!

It's environmentally friendly on two fronts!

One - it's all natural and biodegradable as soap.

Two - it takes a product that is a problem for the biodiesel community and puts it to good use as soap products.

 

[Saltysteele]

Rick, where in that forum can I find someone in my locale who has this glycerin? I'd give it a whirl

 

[knicelyr]

Salty,

I'm in SE Michigan... I would give you some but it looks like you are on the other side of the state. I know there are several people in the biodiesel forum that are in your area.

Make a post on this part of the biodiesel forum...
This is where glycerin related usage and questions are located.

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/ ... /610109192

I really urge soap makers to consider using this glycerin. Even at 10% - 20% of a recipe could really save you some cash on your product.

If you do receive glycerin from a biodieseler be sure that they have removed the methanol or you are prepared to do so. Glycerin with the methanol will in most cases will be liquid unless in the winter time. In the winter time is appears more solid. You can not always smell the methanol if some remains. Be sure you know the methanol has been removed before you make it into soap. If you get the glycerin from a biodieseler it would be smart to heat it to at least 275*F - 350*F to ensure that it's ready for use in your soaps.

 

[freesoul]

Re: Biodiesel Glycerin Soap Examples

There is nothing toxic contained in the biodiesel glycerin.

Rick I think you need to qualify this and state that it is safe once you remove the excess methanol leftover from the biodiesel process. We distill our glycerin up to pot temps of 260F in order to ensure the methanol is removed and the glycerin is considered non-toxic. This temp comes from data provided by samples that Dickinson College in PA had tested by the state DEP.

DO NOT use glycerin that comes straight from a biodiesel producer. The way you can quickly tell is that if it still has some methanol in it, it will be semi liquid. Once you remove the methanol it turns sold and the harder it is the more methanol has been removed.

 

[donniej]

BioDiesel glycerin reacted with KOH does not become solid.

Making sure the methanol is gone is easy, just warm it up and bubble air through it with an aquarium bubbler... outside, of course.

 

[carebear]

shouldn't you be capturing the methanol?

 

[Tabitha]

washtyme,

Your ears must have been burning. My husband was laying in the bathtub last night hollering "were out of bio soap."

Off to make a purchase...

 

[donniej]

shouldn't you be capturing the methanol?

In an ideal world, yes. Sometimes I get BD glycerin from a local guy who does recover the methanol but there's still some left in it. It's not worth the hassle to recover such a small amount so I just bubble it out.

 

[freesoul]

shouldn't you be capturing the methanol?

yes, we reuse it in the next batch also. Waste not want not.

 

[freesoul]

BioDiesel glycerin reacted with KOH does not become solid.

Making sure the methanol is gone is easy, just warm it up and bubble air through it with an aquarium bubbler... outside, of course.

when you take the methanol out it gets solid enough to clog the pipe coming from our still. Not as hard as the NAOH reacted stuff though. You have to get the pot temp up to 260F

 

[freesoul]

washtyme,

Your ears must have been burning. My husband was laying in the bathtub last night hollering "were out of bio soap."

Off to make a purchase...

Thanks

We're starting to get it in some local stores also, very exciting! We made a decision going forward that we would do all our bar soaps with added shea butter and discontinue olive oil.

 

[Tabitha]

We buy the bars added shea. Hubby likes the vanilla best.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Is this stuff even safe to make soap out of, when I hear diesel, its not something I would ever think I would make soap out of? Where do you get this stuff?

Biodiesel is fuel made from edible oils, often used cooking oils from restaurants - it's not "diesel" which is fractionated petroleum oil. Perfectly safe and harmless.

Did you know that Mr. Diesel (yes, that was his name, although I don't remember his first name :roll: ) designed the original engine to run on vegetable oil? It was only when the petroleum industry grew too big for its britches that they were switched to fossil fuel.

That soap looks interesting - very nice! I may have to look around for some biodiesel enthusiasts!

 

[freesoul]

Is this stuff even safe to make soap out of, when I hear diesel, its not something I would ever think I would make soap out of? Where do you get this stuff?

Biodiesel is fuel made from edible oils, often used cooking oils from restaurants - it's not "diesel" which is fractionated petroleum oil. Perfectly safe and harmless.

Did you know that Mr. Diesel (yes, that was his name, although I don't remember his first name :roll: ) designed the original engine to run on vegetable oil? It was only when the petroleum industry grew too big for its britches that they were switched to fossil fuel.

That soap looks interesting - very nice! I may have to look around for some biodiesel enthusiasts!

The term 'biodiesel' is popular slang for methyl esters which can burn in any diesel engine without modification, its also a replacement for home heating oil. It is biodegradable and less toxic than table sugar. And smells soo much better than petroleum when it it burns

PS- none of the smell comes through the glycerin, our unscented bars do not smell like french fries or chinese food

Actually petroleum came into use because it was cheaper, Rudolf Diesel was designing an engine for use in agrarian societies thinking they would be able to sustainably produce their own fuel. Petroleum fuels war, which is why we are proud to power our car and heat our home with sustainable fuel. The awesome soap is a bonus!

 

[knicelyr]

Freesoul thanks for clarifying about the methanol.
Yes the methanol needs to be removed from the glycerin. And it should be captured for re-use.

We heat our glycerin to 300*F - 350*F before we make it into soap.

We are getting fairly popular locally -- 2 local grocery chains and counting!

 

[knicelyr]

I'm happy to see the revival of this thread... Been dead for several months!

BDG is really great stuff.

• You can simply finish saponifying it and its a nice softer bar of soap.

• You can use it as a glycerin additive to your soaps.

• You can use it as a base for a recipe with whole oils and/or fatty acids.

• You can add some TD and mica and get some color.

If there is anyone interested I would be happy to send you a 12 bar log of saponified glycerin to try it out. Use it to make soap or just use it as is as soap.

It's really good stuff too... 5oz Bars can be made for anywhere from $0.02 - $0.20 at the most if you add any whole oil or fatty acids. Yes you read that correctly... 2 Cents - 20 Cents for a 5oz bar!!!

You can make liquid soap from both NaOH and KOH glycerin. Again the cost to make your soap is next to nothing.

So you can see by using it for part or all of your recipe you can really save some money.

 

[gekko62]

So to remove the methanol I need to heat the bdg to 275-350F. Does that temp need to be maintained for some time? Donnie how does the bubbling help? I joined an Aussie BD forum and put out a request(was warned--be careful what you wish for hahaha) and have received loads of advice(really friendly bunch those bioD folk) and can pick some bdg up locally but have to demethanol myself. My inner mad scientist is happy as a clam but I really don't want to make the headlines,yanno,soaplab explodes,new inner city bypass tunnel created(ha,with our traffic woes thats not necessarily a bad thing!) :twisted: Plus how do I determine sap? :?

 

[freesoul]

So to remove the methanol I need to heat the bdg to 275-350F. Does that temp need to be maintained for some time? Donnie how does the bubbling help? I joined an Aussie BD forum and put out a request(was warned--be careful what you wish for hahaha) and have received loads of advice(really friendly bunch those bioD folk) and can pick some bdg up locally but have to demethanol myself. My inner mad scientist is happy as a clam but I really don't want to make the headlines,yanno,soaplab explodes,new inner city bypass tunnel created(ha,with our traffic woes thats not necessarily a bad thing!) :twisted: Plus how do I determine sap? :?

Lisa, you don't have to maintain the temp you have to reach it. When you first start heating the glycerin the methanol will start to evaporate at just over 148F which is the approximate boiling point of methanol. As more is evaporated the temp will keep climbing. I urge you not to do it in an open pot and put the methanol in the atmosphere, you should use a still and the thing you need to be very careful about is that the heating element should never be exposed to air above the level of the glycerin as this air is loaded with methanol vapors and prime for an explosion. Also as you remove the methanol the liquid level will drop keep that in mind.

SAP is largely a guess, we use 300g of NAOH per 10 liters of glycerin/shea butter and let it cure for 3-4 weeks. When we cut the soap out of the molds I have to wear nitrile gloves so my hands don't get red but after the curing its totally neutralized and I don't have any issues with it at all. It depends on what feedstock the oil is from.

Also remember KOH processed biodiesel for liquid soap using KOH, and NAOH processed biodiesel for bar soap using NAOH.

Good luck!

 

[Bubbles Galore]

My inner mad scientist is happy as a clam but I really don't want to make the headlines,yanno,soaplab explodes,new inner city bypass tunnel created(ha,with our traffic woes thats not necessarily a bad thing!) :twisted: Plus how do I determine sap? :?

A bloke my husband used to work with was on the news when he blew up his shed and part of his house making illegal BD. :shock:

 

[donniej]

Donnie how does the bubbling help?

Heat alone will not boil off one liquid mixed with another, you need some agitation. If you heat it to between 150 - 200*F and bubble air through it, the methanol will boil/evaporate off. These vapors are flamable and dangerous to breath. This must be done outside and away from any ignition source.

I used to use an electric heating element (like a hot water heater element) and an aquarium bubbler.