How to make soap

Oil is something that is used in all home kitchens. Thousands of liters of used oil are generated every day that can contaminate millions of liters of water. To be able to recycle this used oil you can learn how to make soap home. Homemade soap is quite useful for a number of things and can be quite cheap.

In this article we are going to tell you how to make homemade soap from used oil and what are the best tricks for it.

Used oil contamination problem

Pouring the oil we use down the sink causes serious impacts on the environment. Without going any further, blockages occur in pipes, complicate water treatment in purification stations, contribute to the appearance of harmful bacteria and as a consequence the increase in urban pests and the generation of bad odors at home. As we all know, water and oil cannot be mixed as oil is an immiscible liquid. If the oil sewers reach rivers a superficial film forms (the oil stays on top because it is less dense).

Oil is an immiscible liquid that negatively affects the oxygen exchange between air and water, and therefore, living beings that reside in rivers are harmed. If a liter of oil contaminates 1000 liters of water, do you really take responsibility for pouring the oil down the sink? Try to visualize the seriousness of the situation, by throwing the oil, you are killing fish, algae and all kinds of animals and plants that live in the rivers.

Regarding the increase in the expense and effort of cleaning in the water treatment plants, in order to clean all the water with used oil, a significant volume of liters of drinking water is used, very scarce and expensive, which has to be heated with the consequent energy expenditure. This cleaning more or less is equivalent to an extra 40 euros per household and year. In other words, for the 5.000.000 households in Spain, we obtain a result of 600.000.000 euros invested in an absurd task that could be avoided. More worrying is the volume of drinking water required for this cleaning process, which reaches 1.500 million liters per year.

Benefits of recycling used oil

The "good" part is that all of this can be avoided by recycling used oil. Industries such as chemistry, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals take advantage of this residue to make fertilizers, varnishes, wax, creams, detergents, soaps, lubricants, paints, candles, etc. Not many years ago it was used at home to make homemade soap. Today, supporters of ecological cleaning at home acquire this type of soaps do it themselves.

To be able to recycle this oil, the clean points and urban orange containers are used. To be able to pour them into these containers, they must be kept in a closed container (they can be used plastic bottles).

The benefits we get from recycling used oil are many and the downside is the "effort" of storing the oil in a bottle and throwing it away in the orange container when the bottle is full. Recycling is in everyone's hands, It does not cost work and we will take care of our environment while avoiding bad smells, pests, more expensive water treatment and we will not waste drinking water.

How to make recycled homemade soap

The manufacture of this type of homemade soap whose main ingredient is used oil is very good for both skin and clothing, caring for the environment and our pockets. Thanks to the use of this type of soaps we can reduce the cost in other supermarkets.

Let's see what are the necessary ingredients to learn how to make homemade soap from used oil:

• Used and strained oil at least half a liter.
• Half a liter of water
• Caustic soda, half a kilo if the soap is to be used for cleaning. 330gr grams if it is to be used with a cosmetic use.

For the correct preparation we are going to give some tips:

• Make your homemade soap in a well-ventilated environment.
• Wear protective gloves and goggles. Caustic soda is quite a corrosive material that should not come into contact with our skin.
• Nor should we use aluminum containers for this preparation, since they are not the most recommended. The ideal is use glass, stainless steel, plastic or wood. To stir the mixture you should use a wooden stick.

To learn how to make homemade soap from used oil, we must dilute the caustic soda in the water. Then, we will slowly and carefully add the caustic soda to avoid the production of toxic vapors. Next, a chemical reaction will take place that releases heat. Therefore, it is necessary to wait a few hours until it cools down. This preparation is known by the name of caustic bleach.

Once we have the mix, We slowly pour the oil over the caustic bleach. We must stir constantly and in the same direction to prevent the soap from cutting. If you want, you can flavor the soap by coloring it by adding natural colorants and essential oils that serve to flavor the soaps. These extras should be added when the temperature of the mixture drops below 40 degrees.

Tips for learning how to make homemade soap

To finish learning how to make homemade soap, pour it into the molds that we are going to use for the soap and let it harden for about a few days. Then you can use the soap for anything as it will have an excellent quality.

These ideas are very interesting for those people who do not have a great economy to be spending the soaps from the supermarket. What's more, helps us raise awareness about the importance of recycling used oil and helps reduce water pollution and damage to biodiversity.

As you can see, it is very easy to learn how to make homemade soap at home and it needs few materials. The result is quite good. I hope that with this information you can learn more about how to make homemade soap at home from used oil.