Lime Peel Can be Made into Environmentally Friendly Dishwashing Soap

Introduction

Dish soap is a household product commonly used to clean kitchen utensils.  However, many commercial dish soaps contain chemicals that can have a negative impact on the environment.  Therefore, using lime peel as a natural ingredient in making environmentally friendly dishwashing soap.  Lime peel is rich in bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, polyphenols and essential oils.  This content has antibacterial and antifungal properties which can be effective in cleaning and removing grease on kitchen utensils.  Using lime peel can also help reduce organic waste, in line with environmental conservation efforts.

Methods

The main raw materials used are lime peel and Barco brand coconut oil.  The supporting materials include 30% KOH solution, glycerin, propylene glycol, distilled water, lemon fragrance oil, mica special green soap dye, mask and latex gloves.  The tools used in this activity are knives, grinders, stirrers, sieves, scales, slow cookers, measuring cups, mercury thermometers.

The process of making dishwashing soap begins with preparations for making lime infused oil by mixing 8 parts coconut oil with 1 part lime peel simplicia which has been dried first in a drying oven at 50 C for 12 hours. The mixture is heated in a slow cooker on low setting ( 55 C) for 24 hours. Next, filtering is carried out and the lime peel infused oil is ready to be used to make dishwashing soap.

making handmade soap using coconut oil as the raw material for natural dishwashing soap, including

- coconut oil as a source of fatty acids for saponification reactions,

 - KOH as an alkaline compound,

 - Glycerin and propylene glycol as additional foam stabilizers and humectants

 - Aquades as a solvent

 - Mica colorant is a special dye for soap, this dye is added to make the product more attractive. Adding additives to the soap is stirred until evenly distributed and the soap making is complete)