Re:freshener

Long description

Have you ever thought about what happens to the soap that you use at hotels? It is estimated that more than five million bars of soap are being thrown away by hotels every day, contaminating the earth. What if there is a way to reuse these soaps, to create another product, solid air fresheners? It can be seen that by analyzing the chemistry of both soap and air fresheners, many similarities can be observed. Chemicals can be reused to create fragrances, maintain consistency and viscosity, and create desired colors. In fragrances, compounds such as stearic acid and benzyl acetate are key components that can be found in soaps. In maintaining a consistency, predominantly sodium and potassium chloride can be used. Finally, as for the dye, a desired color for the air freshener can be manifested by extracting the dye in soaps. Examples of such extraction for color are chemicals such as Titanium Dioxide for an opaque white and red 33 for a dark red. These chemicals can be separated from the soap by using processes such as filtration, distillation, and evaporation. With the outline above, hotel soaps can be reused to create solid air fresheners and mitigate waste. With the processes outlined above, hotel soaps can be reused to create solid air fresheners, mitigating waste and potential environmental problems. Accomplishing this feat would mean that we could save the energy in this world and change a no waste “challenge” into reality.

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