Soap + grease/dirt/oil = ?

tomtucson

tomtucson

New member
When lye mixes with any type of grease/oil it turns into soap. Something I don't think is very hazardous and is like greywater that people put on their lawn etc. So if you used a commensurate amount of lye, there wouldn't be any left in the runoff, right?

It seems like it's not whats in the tank but what it makes after it mixes with the dirt.

Does anyone know about this and is that factored in whatever or whoevers guidelines/requirements/laws?

Here's a point - Oil is horrible for the waterways etc. So if you washed with hot water and didn't reclaim wouldn't that be much worse than washing with lye and releasing ordinary soap?

How about butyl + oil =

Anyone know the products of other cleaning agents?
 
Hazardous components of most detergents are usually on the MSDS (which you should have for everything you use).

Reclaiming is not so much for your water & soaps but the stuff you are cleaning off, which is why "nothing but rain down the drain". (Can't expect the heavens to reclaim!)

Graywater is not considered usable for a lot of things and the areas where it is approved for use is also VERY limited. You can contact the water management folks in your area to get specific uses and restrictions.

As far as soapy water being okay for lawns - during the drought in NC last year, there were instances of homeowners being arrested for using dish and bathwater remains to water their landscaping.
 
As far as runoff getting into waterways, there are no degrees of good, bad, or worse, it is zero, period.
 
That is very strict, here a lot of people would put the outlet hose from the clothes washing machine out to the yard and water their grass and have done so for many, many years.

Their grass is always very green and healthy but I guess if people are against it then you have to comply.





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So again the question - When using caustic are you turning all oil molecules into a mild soap that would be acceptable to go in the sewer? I knoow the dont want too much/any caustic in the sewer but how much caustic is left after washing? It would be nice if there was some testing results.
 
The kind of "grease" or "fat" that is from an animal is used to make soap. I think lard is whats' typically used for soap rendering. Maybe the properties in petroleum type oil and grease aren't turned into soap. Just throwing that out there as maybe a difference.

Jeff
 
Yes Jeff would be correct. Most pollutants we're cleaning are synthetic fossil fuel based that simply get suspended or made into an emulsion with the cleaners...Whether evaporated residue of such process is changed into something else from contact with chem maybe likely but probably none the less safer or better for enviro. Would be nasty sludge. You basically cracked into being some other synthetic.
Their not gonna go changing a products classification of how dangerous or hazardous it is to the environment based on a possability that it will come into contact with suitable dirt, grime, etc. that can use it up or neutralize it.They have to be classified on their own merits.
What is question about butyl+oil? Butyl is considered safer for enviro as it breaks down quikly.(note: it not safe fer you and your organs though)
But hey on the animal fat stuff... have you ever had the priviledge to smell the rancid recoverings of cleaning such stuff? Dude it aint yer mothers homemade soap that's fer sure. Stuff that grows in a wet vac, pipe, or sewer could kill ya if not by bacteria then by the methane/swamp gas it made. :)
 
Lye containing detergents say they clean by 'saponification' turning the grease/oil into soap. Apparently synthetic and petroleum oils have a saponification number and are saponificable to different extents -wikipedia.
 
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