Can soap made from biodiesel make peanut allergies react?
I am trying to find a way to get rid of the glycerin produced by a mid-scale biodiesel manufacturing station. I’m projecting about 17.5 gallons of glycerin per week. There was a suggestion to make soap out of it, but there seems to be widespread uncertainty about the oils in the glycerin (as far as the people I have asked). If there are peanut oils in the soap, it would make a person with peanut allergies react, right? This could possibly kill someone if there ARE peanut oils present. I know I don’t have any allergies to peanuts, but I can’t use that much soap per week!
If you answer, please post your source. I’m inherently skeptical about Yahoo Answers, forgive me!
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Filed under: Making Biodiesel
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Sadly, your idea for turning the glycerine by-product into soap won’t work since soap manufacture produces the same by-product, glycerine!
As you know, plant oils are triesters of long chain fatty acids and glycerine.
Vegetable oils (and animal fats) are saponified when soap is manufactured. The part of the plant oil that your are after for biodiesel is EXACTLY the same as is required for soap namely the long chain fatty acid part.
http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/blsapon.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap
The difference between the two technologies is that biodiesel involves a process of transesterification to produce the final product.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
Given that large quantities of glycerine are becoming available due to biodiesel production, new technologies have been developed to use this as va fuel in its own right:
http://www.anzacfueltech.com/biodiesel-glycerine.htm
Apart from burning glycerine, it can be used as a chemical feedstock in the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, food additives etc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol
As for your concern about peanut allergies, these are as likely to be as much of a problem for your biodiesel as for the glycerine by-product. Having said that, there is little danger of peanut allergies since these are caused by exposure to peanut proteins. Both transesterification (biodiesel production) and saponification (soap production) are likely to destroy these proteins.
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthissues/foodintolerance/foodintolerancetypes/peanutallergy/
Just Google "biodiel" and "peanut oil" together - it is not used as much as the others, but it most certainly is present "in the mix" these days. So, i would say your concerns are justified. If you are going to make soap with the stuff, it should be clearly labelled "may contain peanut by-products." Of course you could just make sure your source of oil is from a farm which doesn’t grow peanuts at all…..some of the large soybean or corn farms must have their own oil-production facilities.
If you are "inherently skeptical" about Yahoo answers, you should probably not ask questions on Yahoo Answers.
Source: My son has a peanut allergy.