donniej
Well-Known Member
This experiment was to answer the question "can you unsoap soap?"
The answer is yes.
Take some scraps and grate them with a cheese grater or cut into small pieces. Mix with vinegar until all the soap is broken apart. You will see an oily layer form on top of the vinegar, this is the soap becoming oil again. The lye is netralized by the vinegar (acetic acid) and becomes sodium acetate (harmless). The relaeased fatty acids reattach to the glycerin and become oil again.
Now heat some water and mix in as much salt as the water will take. Boil the salt water and add some more shaved/grated soap scraps. The soap will curd and float on top, the glycerin will be absorbed into the salt water. Scoop out the curds and wash them with warm water. Mix the curds with vinegar, shaking them in a mason jar works well. The soap is no longer soap, the lye is nuetralized and you now have pure fatty acids. You will notice that they're waxy and don't clean or suds or disolve in water anymore.
I'm guessing you can use these fatty acids to make candles if your base oil was high in stearic acid. Light oils with olenic and linolenic acid will be greasy.
If anyone tries this, let me know how it worked for you.
The answer is yes.
Take some scraps and grate them with a cheese grater or cut into small pieces. Mix with vinegar until all the soap is broken apart. You will see an oily layer form on top of the vinegar, this is the soap becoming oil again. The lye is netralized by the vinegar (acetic acid) and becomes sodium acetate (harmless). The relaeased fatty acids reattach to the glycerin and become oil again.
Now heat some water and mix in as much salt as the water will take. Boil the salt water and add some more shaved/grated soap scraps. The soap will curd and float on top, the glycerin will be absorbed into the salt water. Scoop out the curds and wash them with warm water. Mix the curds with vinegar, shaking them in a mason jar works well. The soap is no longer soap, the lye is nuetralized and you now have pure fatty acids. You will notice that they're waxy and don't clean or suds or disolve in water anymore.
I'm guessing you can use these fatty acids to make candles if your base oil was high in stearic acid. Light oils with olenic and linolenic acid will be greasy.
If anyone tries this, let me know how it worked for you.